Opening Statement of Ranking Member Jan Schakowsky

From the outset, this investigation has not been an objective or fact-based search for the truth but a political weapon to attack women’s health care and life-saving research and harass and intimidate those who provide these services.

This was clear during our first hearing, where one of the witnesses invited by the Republicans drew comparisons between researchers who use fetal tissue and Nazi war criminal Dr. Josef Mengele – a comparison echoed by Chair Blackburn in her opening statement. Another Republican witness testified that women who have abortions are “morally disqualified” from choosing to donate tissue for research purposes.

For today’s hearing, Republicans have again invited witnesses who believe that abortion should be illegal – that women should not be permitted or trusted to decide whether to carry a pregnancy to term. Some continue to declare that Planned Parenthood is selling fetal tissue for profit despite the fact that three House Committees, twelve states, and a Texas grand jury have already cleared the organization of wrongdoing. These witnesses – like our Republican colleagues – endorse and rely upon the video allegations of anti-abortion extremist David Daleiden and his associates to support their inflammatory claims.

Anyone who has been following the facts knows the truth: Mr. Daleiden’s videos are not accurate or reliable, and they do not show the unlawful sale of fetal tissue.

A grand jury in Texas already put him to the test, under oath, and he failed. That grand jury, instructed by the Republican lieutenant governor to investigate Planned Parenthood, instead indicted Daleiden for breaking the law through his efforts to entrap Planned Parenthood. The District Attorney handling the case refused to re-present it to another grand jury, explaining that “we must go where the evidence leads us.” As she explained – and I quote – “Anyone who pays attention knows that I’m pro-life. I believe abortion is wrong. But my personal belief does not relieve me of my obligation to follow the law.”

That standard should apply with equal force here.

There is no reason to believe that Daleiden – a proven liar when it comes to Planned Parenthood – would be any more truthful about anyone else involved in reproductive health care or fetal tissue research. Yet instead of correcting the record on the Daleiden videos, the Chair continues to invoke them.

Today, my Republican colleagues likely will claim that it is not just the videos. They may assert that documents that this Panel has received or that Republican staff have created show the need for further investigation. This is also false.

Sixteen years ago, the Subcommittee on Health and Environment of the House Commerce Committee considered similar materials. That hearing – titled “Fetal Tissue: Is it Being Sold in Violation of Federal Law”—featured a “fee for service schedule” showing amounts charged for types of tissue; “transaction logs” with charges for tissue on particular dates; and agreements between providers and procurement organizations.

That hearing also featured an employee – Dean Alberty – who had worked at two tissue procurement organizations. The anti-abortion group “Life Dynamics” had filmed and released a videotaped interview where Alberty claimed to have witnessed fetuses “born alive,” doctors changing procedures for donation purposes, and unlawful payment for fetal tissue – exactly the types of claims made in the Daleiden videos.

In statements under oath, however, Alberty contradicted his inflammatory claims and admitted during the 2000 hearing that his sworn statements – not the remarks on the heavily-edited video made by anti-abortion extremists – were the truth. The Department of Justice also investigated the allegations of unlawful profiteering at the heart of that hearing and concluded that no laws had been broken.

No one believes that companies should be allowed to profit by selling fetal tissue. The law bans “valuable consideration” related to the donation of fetal tissue and we firmly support that prohibition. However – just as it does for adult organ donation – the law expressly allows reimbursement for costs. In fact, 42 U.S.C. 289g, the provision that we are focusing on today, is modeled on the National Organ Transplant Act which similarly prohibits “valuable consideration” but allows reimbursement for costs associated with organ donation, which can be considerable.

Allegations regarding possible unlawful profit from adult organ transplantation would not result in a call to ban all organ donations. Yet Republican lawmakers in the House want to ban fetal tissue donation and research altogether, something that some states have already done. Florida, for example, recently enacted a sweeping bill attacking women’s health care and banning the donation of fetal tissue. This is tragic for women and families in the Gulf Coast as summer approaches and researchers race to understand and solve the Zika virus. Despite Chair Blackburn’s claims that Democrats are “exaggerating” its importance, key studies have relied heavily on fetal tissue to increase our understanding of the virus.

These bans have been proposed despite the fact that there still is no evidence of wrongdoing related to fetal tissue donation.

Instead, the documents received by this Panel actually show that health care providers are losing money through programs that allow women to donate fetal tissue for research purposes. This was not what Congress intended when it voted – on a bipartisan basis – to allow reimbursement of costs.

It is absurd that, even when they are losing money, providers are still attacked by those who appear to be motivated by their opposition to abortion, not the actual facts regarding fetal tissue donation or research.

This Panel is a perfect example. Over the course of the investigation, the Chair has targeted one clinic, one university, and one tissue procurement organization– all of whom were cooperating voluntarily before the Chair served them with unilateral subpoenas.

The Panel has known since January that Southwestern Women’s Options does not take any money for ensuring that women who want to donate tissue to the University can do so. Let me underscore that fact: no money is exchanged in connection with a woman’s choice to donate fetal tissue to researchers at the University of New Mexico.

Already knowing this, the Chair served subpoenas and issued press releases tying them to what she repeatedly describes as an investigation into the unlawful sale of “baby body parts.” As a result, the University and clinic have been subject to unwarranted accusations from state and federal officials and additional targeted harassment from anti-abortion extremists. Is it any wonder that universities, clinics, and others are reluctant to hand over the names of their researchers, students, clinic personnel, and doctors so that the Chair can amass a dangerous database of their names?

For its part, the tissue procurement company – Stem Express –already offered to have its procurement director explain its cost structure. The Chair ignored that offer and, instead, called this public hearing and invited witnesses who have no firsthand knowledge of the facts to opine about potential criminal misconduct. On its own initiative, Stem Express has now submitted a letter to ensure that the Panel has the information needed to bring this investigation to an end.

This investigation has never been – and has no promise of becoming – fair or fact-based. Our Republican colleagues’ disdain for the facts – and for women and their doctors – is putting researchers, doctors, and women at risk. It is time for Republican leadership to bring this investigation to an end.

I ask unanimous consent to have Stem Express’s April 19, 2016 letter and accompanying “Statement Regarding Select Investigative Panel and April 20, 2016 Hearing,” a March 10, 2016 article in the New England Journal of Medicine discussing the use of fetal tissue to understand how Zika impacts fetal brain development, and an April 7, 2016 article in Nature, titled Zika Highlights Role of Fetal Tissue Research included as part of the record.

With that, I yield back the balance of my time.

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