Republicans want the federal government to investigate a tissue research firm and abortion clinics for potentially violating federal law, which Democrats are calling a “witch hunt.”
Leaders of the House Select Investigative Panel on Infant Lives want the Department of Health and Human Services to investigate potential violations by the California tissue procurement firm StemExpress and several abortion clinics. The request on Wednesday comes in the wake of calls from House Democrats to shut the panel down.
Chairwoman Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., wrote in a letter to HHS that the panel has uncovered evidence that StemExpress violated federal regulations governing informed consent.
Blackburn argues the tissue procurement firm violates a privacy rule and other federal regulations governing institutional review boards designed to approve research that involves humans, such as clinical trials.
The panel argued that StemExpress used “invalid consent forms and misleading scientific researchers to believe it had valid IRB approval.”
Blackburn said StemExpress contracts with abortion clinics to profit from the sale of aborted fetal body parts. The contract changes “the way both entities view the young woman. Her baby is now a profit-center,” Blackburn said.
However, StemExpress has said that less than 1 percent of its revenue comes from aborted fetal tissue procurement.
“Even this small portion of our revenue is unequivocally not for profit; rather, StemExpress incurs substantial losses each year to support fetal tissue research,” the company said in April.
The company has called into question the validity of evidence obtained by the panel.
Democrats have opposed the panel from the start, and late last month nearly every House Democrat joined a letter to House Speaker Paul Ryan calling for an end to it.
“The onus is on you to put an end to this witch hunt,” the letter said. “You cannot continue to turn a blind eye to the serious risks presented by the panel and still claim to fulfill your responsibilities as speaker.”
The Democrats charged that the panel is forcing universities and clinics to turn over the names of their researchers and other personnel.
“Many people contacted by the panel have expressed fear for their safety if identified in connection with this investigation, with some repeatedly described by the chairman and other Republicans in misleading and inflammatory terms,” the letter added.
The request for an investigation comes after a contentious April hearing into the selling of aborted fetal body parts for a profit, which is illegal under federal law.
Republicans on the panel said in April that a series of documents and exhibits could prove abortion clinics and one unnamed tissue procurement firm profited from the sale of aborted fetal body parts.
Democrats responded that attorneys from StemExpress said anti-abortion activist David Daleiden might have stolen some of those exhibits, calling into question the documents’ authenticity.
“Is this hearing really going to proceed based on stolen and misleading documents?” asked Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Calif.
Daleiden created a series of undercover videos that show Planned Parenthood officials discussing the procurement and donation of aborted fetal body parts.
The women’s health and abortion provider has denied it violated federal law and that it received only transportation costs for providing the fetal tissue, which is used for medical research.
A Houston grand jury declined to indict Planned Parenthood, and 12 states have cleared the organization of any wrongdoing. Instead, the Texas grand jury indicted Daleiden on charges that include tampering with government documents, namely creating a fake ID to infiltrate Planned Parenthood.
