If it wasn’t obvious, it is now: Republicans are making the congressional hearings on Planned Parenthood more about abortion itself than the organization.
Lawmakers used a range of props including diapers, surgical instruments and videos at a Judiciary Committee hearing Thursday afternoon to illustrate what they view as a gruesome procedure. Rep. Trent Franks, R-Ariz., held up a tiny diaper designed for a premature baby, noting that some fetuses aborted midway through pregnancy could fit into it. Anthony Levatino, a doctor who used to conduct abortions, held up a catheter and a clamp used during the dilation and evaculation procedure.
“You use this instrument again and again to tear out the spine, the intestines, the heart and lungs,” Levatino told the committee. “Sometimes a little face comes out and stares at you.”
It was the fourth congressional hearing prompted by a series of undercover videos highlighting Planned Parenthood’s participation in supplying aborted fetal tissue, which sparked widespread Republican outrage against the group and led lawmakers to create a new committee on Wednesday specifically charged with investigating the group.
Prior hearings had disappointed many on the Right, who criticized Republicans for appearing uncoordinated, unprepared and ineffective. But as Republicans kicked off their latest hearing, they made clear they intend to keep the focus almost exclusively on the procedure of abortion itself, rather than on questions of whether Planned Parenthood illegally profited from providing the tissue to human tissue companies.
Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., replayed footage from the videos where clinicians appear picking through the remains of aborted fetuses. He also recited a list of early developmental milestones for fetuses, including when the heart begins to beat and the toes develop.
“But on any given day, her developing parts, including her heart and brain, may be harvested at the many Planned Parenthood clinics that participate in this practice across the country,” Goodlatte concluded. “If her organs are harvested, she will not carry a name. At most, she will be referred to as a ‘product of conception.'”
Levatino described the moment when he decided he could no longer perform abortions. “I reached in, pulled out an arm or leg and got sick,” he told the panel. “For the first time in my life I really looked at that pile of body parts on the table. All I could see is somebody’s son or daughter.”
Besides Levatino, witnesses included a former Planned Parenthood director who has turned against the group and a woman who described receiving three abortions that she says prevented her from subsequently having children.
“Having an abortion didn’t solve any of my problems,” Luana Stoltenberg said. “It only created new ones and larger ones … I even tried to kill myself.”
Republicans have been unable to prove that Planned Parenthood broke the law by profiting from fetal tissue. It’s legal for clinics to be compensated for the overhead costs of providing the tissue, but federal law doesn’t specify how much payment is considered reasonable before it becomes profit-making.
Nor have they produced concrete evidence that the women’s health and abortion provider performed partial birth abortions, which are illegal, although the videos do show Planned Parenthood officials acknowledging that sometimes doctors change the way the procedure is performed to keep certain desirable organs intact.
But to Republicans, legally incriminating Planned Parenthood is less important than the real opportunity the videos offer: To highlight the controversial procedure of abortion, describe in detail how it is performed and discuss ethically complex situations in which a fetus is born alive after a botched abortion and therefore legally entitled to medical care.
“If you had a small dog and you had to put that dog to sleep, would you think it would be too brutal to crush that dog in two places?” Rep. Randy Forbes, R-Va., asked the witnesses.
For Democrats, the best way to win on the issue is by pointing out the lack of solid evidence that Planned Parenthood broke any laws — and that’s what they focused on during the Thursday hearing. Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., replayed edited-out sections of the videos in which a top Planned Parenthood official stresses that clinics did not try to make money beyond getting compensated for the overhead costs of providing the tissue.
“This investigation of Planned Parenthood is based on false premises, one after another,” Cohen said. “Stop picking on women and trying to take their choice away.”
Democrats also slammed Republicans for focusing on Planned Parenthood instead of holding any hearings on increasing gun violence around the country. They also reiterated their arguments that if the group lost its federal funds, millions of American women could lose access to healthcare.
The videos were obtained and produced by David Daleiden, an anti-abortion activist and investigator who disguised himself as a human tissue buyer to secretly tape conversations with top Planned Parenthood officials. After working on the project for more than two years, he released nearly a dozen videos over the summer that attempt to prove Planned Parenthood illegally profited from tissue and performed partial-birth abortions.
Planned Parenthood says it has done nothing wrong. While its president, Cecile Richards, has apologized for the way in which employees discussed the practice, she has said she is proud of how a handful of clinics provide the tissue for medical research purposes.
The House voted Wednesday to create a select committee charged with incorporating all of the Republican investigations into Planned Parenthood. House leaders are next expected to appoint 13 members to the panel, which will be housed within the Energy and Commerce Committee.
