House Republicans have created a special panel to investigate Planned Parenthood, approving the new, select committee by a 242-184 vote down partisan lines Wednesday afternoon.
The 13-member committee will be broadly charged with investigating the procurement of fetal tissue used for medical research, federal funding received by abortion providers, second and third-trimester abortion procedures, and botched abortions in which a baby is born alive.
Legislation creating the panel doesn’t explicitly mention Planned Parenthood. But House Republicans conceived of it as a way to centralize investigations into the women’s health and abortion provider, which were prompted by a series of undercover videos highlighting how the group provides aborted fetal tissue for medical research.
“It is Congress’ duty to the American people that we find out the truth,” said Rep. Joe Pitts, chairman of the Energy and Commerce health subcommittee. “That will be the task and purpose of this select committee.”
Three House committees are conducting their own probes into whether Planned Parenthood broke any laws to obtain or supply the tissue. The new panel will be housed within one of them, the House Energy and Commerce Committee, although its members don’t have to belong to that committee.
House Speaker John Boehner will appoint eight Republican members to the committee and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, who objected strongly to the formation of the committee, will name five Democrats. Democrats have called the committee a waste of lawmakers’ time, some comparing it to the special committee Republicans set up to investigate Hillary Clinton’s actions in the 2012 Benghazi attack.
“What do you do when you don’t get the answer you want?,” said Rep. Chris Van Hollen, lead Democrat on the Budget Committee. “Let’s spend more money on a special committee. This is a kangaroo court.”
The new committee will have the power to subpeona documents and testimony, and it’s allowed to recommend changes in laws or regulations based on its findings.
For Republicans and abortion opponents outraged by the videos, it’s a way to keep Planned Parenthood on the hotseat as they try to prove it broke the law or engaged in unethical behavior. But the group has denied it did anything wrong, saying it was compensated only for overhead costs of obtaining the tissue, which would be legal.
“It’s become very obvious that this is all part of a political agenda to make abortion illegal in this country,” said Planned Parenthood Executive Vice President Dawn Laguens said. “Despite the clear political agenda behind these investigations, we continue to cooperate fully with all of them.”
The videos, obtained and edited by abortion opponent David Daleiden, feature top Planned Parenthood officials discussing how some clinics supply aborted fetuses for medical research. They have prompted major conservative backlash against the group, whose president, Cecile Richards, testified before Congress last week on the matter.
The House Judiciary Committee will hold a fourth hearing on Thursday targeting the group, this one specifically focused on its provision of abortions to millions of American women.
