Select Investigative Panel Issues Interim Update to the House

Washington, DC — Chairman Marsha Blackburn and Majority Members of the Select Investigative Panel today released their Interim Update to the House of Representatives at a press conference with House Majority Whip Steve Scalise.
 
Following the release of undercover videos documenting shocking admissions and graphic footage of abortion clinics and tissue procurement companies, Congress initiated hearings and subsequently created the Select Investigative Panel to carry out an in-depth investigation into the allegations revealed by the videos. The primary allegation was that abortion clinics received a payment for aborted babies’ body parts from tissue procurement companies, which then resold those parts to researchers.
 
The Interim Update details evidence uncovered through the Panel’s investigation that provides a deeply disturbing view of Big Abortion today where clinics are willing to sell baby body parts to make more money. It shows the abortion industry has become hardened and callous with a focus on profit instead of patient welfare. This illicit profit motive has led to regulatory shortcuts that have harmed women and children and accelerated the desire of these abortion clinics and middlemen to make more money in any way possible.
 
Chairman Marsha Blackburn (R-TN): “Through our investigation, we have uncovered evidence that some abortion providers have altered abortion procedures in a manner that substitutes what is best for the patient with a financial benefit for both the abortion clinic and the procurement organization. The motive for profit sullies the integrity of our nation’s celebrated history of voluntary organ donation. At every turn, the minority has publicly advocated that the Panel be disbanded and has privately attempted to obstruct the Panel’s fact-finding mission.”
 
Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-LA): “Based on what’s been uncovered so far, everything continues to point to abortion clinics and middlemen breaking federal laws to profit off the disgusting practice of selling baby body parts. I commend the Panel on the incredible and difficult work that they’ve done so far, and they will continue to have the full support of our leadership team to continue their mission and complete the important work of getting the facts out so that we can determine what really happened and in fact if laws were broken and to chronicle and pass that on.”
 
Rep. Joe Pitts (R-PA): “As one of our members on the Panel said, this is like an Amazon.com of baby body parts. It’s as easy as buying office supplies off of the internet. This business is nothing more than a fetal corpse market.”
 
Rep. Diane Black (R-TN): “Throughout our oversight efforts, one thing has been clear: today’s big abortion industry too often puts profits before patients, and convenience before ethics and the rule of law.”
 
Rep. Larry Bucshon (R-IN): “This is a business model that puts a priority on revenue above all else, even before the safety and well-being of young women and innocent babies. And I can tell you as a medical provider that is particularly troubling. I was a cardiothoracic surgeon before coming to Congress and I performed a specific type of surgery, patent ductus ligation, on patients as young as 22 weeks gestational age and the smallest only weighed 650 grams. The babies I operated on went on to live happy and healthy lives. Their parents were able to experience the joy of raising a child. I can tell you as a father, there’s no greater joy. Yet, we’ve found that the Big Abortion business treats babies as a means to improve the bottom line.”
 
Rep. Vicky Hartzler (R-MO): “We are proving the sad reality that they are not for women’s health and that they are for profit, and I think the women of America deserve to know this.”
 
Rep. Sean Duffy (R-WI): “The industry has been less than cooperative, and I think we have to ask ourselves why. If they’re proud of this industry, if there’s nothing to hide, if they think this is moral and meets the laws of America, open up. Give us the documents we asked for. The minority should cooperate with us, and join with us, and say, ‘America has a right to know what’s happening here.’”

Dr. Andy Harris (R-MD): “Let’s be clear here. Our investigation is not about stopping fetal tissue research, it’s about whether or not Congress is going to idly stand by and let an illegal for-profit marketplace for fetal tissue be allowed to continue, especially when the profiteers invade the privacy of patients who choose abortion.”

Rep. Mia Love (R-UT): “The fact-finding mission of the Panel is helping pull back the shroud on this shady business. This includes the need to protect vulnerable minors, women and, of course, life. We are raising awareness about this, and we will continue our work.”
 
 
Click here to watch video of the Press Conference.
 
Click here to read the Interim Update from the Select Investigative Panel.

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