The first hearing of the House Select Investigative Panel on Infant
Lives on Mar. 2 revealed a deep partisan divide between pro-abortion
lawmakers claiming Congress has better things to do and pro-life House
members concerned about the morality of an industry harvesting baby body
parts from abortions.
Republicans came to the hearing armed with exhibits and prepared lines
of questioning to get to the bottom of what is happening in an alleged
fetal-tissue-for-profit industry involving abortion provider Planned
Parenthood, which was exposed by undercover videos released by the
Center for Medical Progress last summer. Committee chairwoman Rep.
Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., made her intentions clear from the start:
“This is … about bioethics. We did not invite our guests here to debate
election year politics or journalism ethics or whether this select panel
should be funded.”
But that did not stop Democrats from attempting to undermine Blackburn and other GOP members of the panel.
Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., probed Blackburn about subpoenas she
delivered last month to several researchers in the biomedical field.
Nadler claimed the committee could be “complicit” in the harm of those
researchers if their names became public, pointing to the November
shooting at a Planned Parenthood facility in Colorado.
“False allegations from anti-abortion extremists is putting Americans
in harm’s way,” said Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., the committee’s top
Democrat. “We are looking at a partisan ideological battle against
abortion.”
Democrats moved to quash the subpoenas, but the motion failed along
party lines. Eight Republicans and six Democrats make up the select
panel.
Four of the six witnesses at Wednesday’s hearing agreed with the
Republican committee members, testifying that it is unethical to use
tissue from aborted babies for medical research.
“Because we know that the fetus is alive and human, we must find some
explanation for why it should not be treated with the same dignity that
we accord all other human lives,” said Gerard Kevin Donovan, a physician
and bioethics professor at the Georgetown University School of
Medicine. “This is a stark fact that makes such scientific endeavors
controversial.”
Pro-abortion lawmakers attempted to discredit Donovan and the other
like-minded witnesses, claiming they were “philosophically opposed to
abortion.”
Republican committee members presented as evidence several emails
showing communication between abortionists and fetal-tissue buyers and
the consent form given to women to donate their baby’s body parts post
abortion.
Rep. Diane Black, R-Tenn., suggested a particular series of emails
equated the selling of dead babies to a retail business: “There
effectively is an Amazon.com for human parts, including entire babies.”
Rep. Andy Harris, R-Md., held up the form that boasted that donated
tissue “has been used to treat and find cures for” multiple diseases.
“We have really found a cure for diabetes, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s,
cancer and AIDS?” Harris asked. “Because that is exactly what this form
says.”
Lawrence Goldstein, a professor at the University of California, San
Diego, was the only cell-based researcher invited to testify Wednesday.
He said fetal tissue and cells that would otherwise be discarded after
abortions play a vital role in modern medical research. But he failed to
deliver specific examples of cures developed from fetal-tissue
research.
Goldstein said he has used fetal tissue to explore cures for multiple
ailments, and even hopes the cells could help grow new organs one day.
But he agreed the consent form was misleading because there are no cures
yet for Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s disease.
“We need all different types of cells to do research, because we don’t know what is best,” Goldstein added.
Several conservative lawmakers had difficulty believing Goldstein’s
claim that research using cells from aborted babies would help grow new
organs and cure diseases.
Rep. Larry Bucshon, R-Ind., a heart surgeon, asked the scientist where
he gets the tissue he uses for his research and who is profiting from
its sale.
“Many people in this hearing have said, ‘It’s going to be discarded
anyway,’ but then how come we are selling it and making a profit?” asked
Bucshon. “It makes no sense to me why organizations want to be involved
in this if there is no money.”
Democrats on the panel held a press briefing afterward claiming the
hearing was a “witch hunt” and a “charade” designed for Republicans to
attack abortion laws. They even advocated disbanding the committee
But Blackburn told reporters she is pleased with the panel’s work and
plans to speak with more scientists about the ethics of fetal-tissue
research.
“It’s unfortunate,” Blackburn said of Democrats criticizing her
motives. “Because what we’re focused on is the protection of life.”
Courtesy: WORLD News Service
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