Republican lawmakers pledged to redact the names of graduate students, doctors and researchers from academic institutions and healthcare providers they are subpoenaing as part of a probe into fetal tissue research.
“We will do everything possible to protect their identities,” said Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., during a press conference after the inaugural hearing of the House Select Investigative Panel on Infant Lives.
The subpoenas were handed out after the institutions declined to give out the information requested by the committee, said Blackburn, the committee’s chairwoman.
But Democrats say the names of graduate students and researchers could get out, leaving them open to attacks from anti-abortion activists.
Rep. Jan Schakowsky of Illinois, the panel’s top Democrat, likened the subpoenas to a witch hunt and said they were “reminiscent of Senator Joe McCarthy’s abusive tactics” during the hearing.
Blackburn said after the hearing that the McCarthy comments were “really unfortunate.”
Democrats on the panel tried to quash the subpoenas, but the motion was voted down over partisan lines.
Schakowsky said after the hearing that Republicans would have to go to Congress to bring a motion to hold researchers who don’t provide names in contempt.
“Do they really want to do this?” Schakowsky asked. “We will stand behind anyone who wants to resist providing the individual names.”
