Liberal lawmakers in Congress are renewing their calls to disband a House panel investigating abortion providers, The Hill reports (Sullivan, The Hill, 5/13).
Committee actions
The subcommittee was created following the release of a series of misleading videos targeting Planned Parenthood. The subcommittee is the fourth in the House to investigate the organization.
The subcommittee is allowed to probe, among other topics, federal funding for health care providers who also provide abortion services and providers' practices for abortions later in pregnancy. The resolution (H Res 461) that created the subcommittee gave it the ability to investigate "medical procedures and business practices used by entities involved in fetal tissue procurement" and "any other relevant matters with respect to fetal tissue procurement."
The subcommittee has issued several subpoenas requesting the names of fetal tissue researchers, spurring criticism from medical groups and liberal lawmakers who are concerned that the subpoenas could put researchers, students and medical professionals at risk of antiabortion-rights violence (Women's Health Policy Report, 5/9). Many groups responding to the subpoenas have submitted redacted documents to protect individuals' names and other identifying information amid concerns they could be targeted by abortion-rights opponents (Women's Health Policy Report, 3/31).
Last month, conservative members of the panel presented a report alleging that an unidentified abortion provider and an unidentified tissue procurement company had violated federal bans on the sale of fetal tissue. In response to the allegations, attorneys for the company, StemExpress, in a letter wrote that at least one of the screenshots in the report that captures an internal page on the company's website appears to have been obtained illegally. The company also noted that some of the materials in the report likely were obtained by David Daleiden, the founder of the antiabortion-rights group behind the videos. Attorneys for the company stated that some of the documents include "gross inaccuracies" (Women's Health Policy Report, 5/9).
Liberals urge disbandment
In a letter sent to House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) last week, liberal lawmakers raised concerns about the investigation, calling the subcommittee's tactics "a serious abuse of congressional power" (Letter to house speaker, 5/12). Lawmakers also held a press conference.
The lawmakers said Blackburn has violated House rules by not providing advanced notification of subpoenas to medical researchers, fetal tissue procurement companies and others. They wrote, "Chair Blackburn's 'secret' subpoenas -- issued without the required notice or consultation, and without any effort to obtain voluntary cooperation first -- do not reflect the values you have laid out or the accepted rules and practices of the House."
The lawmakers also cited the concerns raised by an individual deposed by the subcommittee. According to the lawmakers, the individual's requests to not be deposed "have been refused or met with deafening silence" by Ryan and Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.), chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. The liberal lawmakers wrote, "Facing the threat of contempt, that person appeared before the Panel last week. During eight hours of questioning, [the individual] was asked to 'name names' by [conservative] staff who refused to explain how their requests bore any relation to a legitimate investigative aim."
In addition, liberal lawmakers have raised concerns that conservative lawmakers are putting doctors and researchers in danger by requesting identifying information. They cited a press release that names an abortion provider who was a party in a Supreme Court challenge to an abortion ban, noting that the provider has been targeted by the subcommittee over criminal allegations regarding his abortion clinic. Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) said, "That person travels with security. He has been firebombed. He has been threatened, and if you look at everything they say they want to investigate, they are criminal allegations, no business of Congress. If they have evidence of any of this, they should refer it to the U.S. attorney."
Comments
Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.), the ranking member of the special committee, said liberal lawmakers are "definitely now ratcheting ... up" their calls to dissolve the subcommittee. She said, "We have to get an answer from the Speaker to see if this is something that is driven by leadership and they understand exactly what is going on."
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said, "What's going on in the Congress today is, to borrow a phrase, unAmerican." She noted the panel is acting in ways "not seen on Capitol Hill since the days of Joseph McCarthy" (The Hill, 5/13).
