Hearing of the House Judiciary Committee - Planned Parenthood Exposed: Examining the Horrific Abortion Practices at the Nation's Largest Abortion Provider

Hearing

Recently, the nation's attention has been drawn to a series of undercover videos recorded by members of a group called the Center for Medical Progress. These videos contain discussions with representatives of the abortion-providing organization Planned Parenthood regarding the exchange of money for the body parts of unborn children to be used in research.

Any discussion of abortion is inherently difficult, as it is unquestionably the taking of a human life. That discussion becomes even more difficult when it turns to the monetary value of the body parts of more developed unborn children -- and to the prospect of exposing them to potentially more painful abortions, conducted in different ways, without the mother's consent, to preserve the added value of their more fully developed body parts. Yet these videos force us all to engage in that discussion, one that this committee has been engaged in for some time now, and which now begins its phase of public hearings.

There are questions regarding whether there are gaps in the law that should be filled to prevent the types of horrors described in the videos. There are questions regarding whether or not existing federal laws have been violated. The Committee is aggressively seeking answers to these questions, but there is no question that the videos are deeply disturbing on a human level.

The Director of New York University's Division of Medical Ethics said in response to the videos that "it's ethically very dangerous" to change an abortion procedure for the purpose of collecting the organs of unborn children because then "You're starting to put the mom's health secondary."

One of the unborn baby tissue procurement companies caught on tape has already claimed to have severed its business relationship with Planned Parenthood.

The head of Planned Parenthood herself has referred to what her own Senior Director of Medical Services said on the videos as "unacceptable," and personally apologized for it.

And during a sit-down interview with the New Hampshire Union Leader, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said of the undercover videos "I have seen pictures from them and obviously find them disturbing." When the leading Democratic candidate for President says she finds the videos "obviously … disturbing," I think we can safely put to rest any allegations that the investigation of these acts is inappropriate.

Some Members have questioned why our investigation is focused on the conduct of Planned Parenthood, and not on the conduct of those who obtained the undercover footage. Part of the answer is that Planned Parenthood, unlike the undercover reporters, is granted huge amounts of federal funds, making it our business as Members of Congress -- charged with controlling the federal purse-strings -- to do what we can to ensure federal taxpayers are not contributing to the sorts of horrors reflected in the undercover videos. The conduct exposed by the undercover videos may help inform Congress on how to enact better laws, or to see to it that current laws are better enforced, to help protect innocent life nationwide.

To that end, the House has already passed the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, which would prohibit abortions, with certain limited exceptions, when women are entering the sixth month of pregnancy. Today, America is one of only seven countries on Earth -- including North Korea and China -- that allow elective abortions after 20 weeks post-fertilization, and an overwhelmingly majority of just about every demographic group opposes its continued practice here. The Senate should pass that bill immediately, and the President should sign it, and in so doing help ensure that the body parts of late-aborted babies cannot be sold because late-term abortions would be generally prohibited. In the mean time, the House Judiciary Committee today continues to examine additional ways of protecting human life, and preserving the conscience of America.

Today's hearing is the first part of a two-part hearing on this topic. I hope that this hearing helps to shed light on some of the nation's darkest corners so that the atrocities that some would very much like to dehumanize can be exposed for what they really are.

I look forward to hearing from all our witnesses here today.

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