U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn is taking heat from abortion activists as she begins leading a long-term Congressional committee to investigate abortion practices that have shocked the nation.
The U.S. House recently formed the select committee to investigate Planned Parenthood and other abortion centers after a series of undercover videos showed top abortion doctors discussing how they harvest and sell aborted babies’ body parts.
Democrats have called the committee a “witch hunt” and “a radical assault on women’s health”; but Blackburn, who has watched the videos unlike many of those attacking her, says everyone she knows who has watched the videos is “unsettled and disturbed.” She described the footage as “abhorrent.”
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“To hear the casual and callous nature that some of the individuals in that footage talked about — the babies, these little unborn babies, these aborted babies and baby body parts — is disturbing and unsettling,” Blackburn told The Tennessee Commercial Appeal.
Democrats attacking the committee are among Planned Parenthood’s biggest donation recipients. Earlier this week, LifeNews reported that all of the Democrats appointed to Blackburn’s committee have received donations from Planned Parenthood.
The congresswoman from Tennessee emphasized that her committee will be investigating the whole abortion industry, not just Planned Parenthood.
“Our charge is to be an information-gathering, fact-finding committee,” Blackburn said. “We always know that individuals who don’t agree with you are going to be looking for a reason to disagree with you. But what we are going to do is continue with our work and the mission we were given and fulfill the charge that we have been asked to fulfill.”
Under Blackburn’s leadership, the committee will investigate:
- Medical procedures and business practices used by entities involved in fetal tissue procurement;
- Any other matters with respect to fetal tissue procurement;
- Federal funding and support for abortion providers;
- The practices of providers of second and third trimester abortions, including partial birth abortion procedures that may lead to a child born alive as a result of an attempted abortion;
- Medical procedures for the care of a child born alive as a result of an attempted abortion;
- Any changes in law or regulation necessary as a result of any other findings made.
The committee is made up of eight Republicans and six Democrats, nine of whom are women. The group will spend approximately a year thoroughly investigating, and then will submit a report to Congress with recommendations, Blackburn said.
The work of this panel will be in addition to the ongoing investigations at the House Judiciary Committee and Oversight and Government Reform Committee.
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“This is about getting answers to questions about how we treat and protect life in this country,” Blackburn said, previously. “This is a discussion that this country must have; we cannot shy away from what is an unsettling topic. The allegations raised in these disturbing and abhorrent videos have led us to ask: What have we come to in this country? This select panel will allow us to have this conversation and help us get the facts about how infant lives are being treated.”
