Thursday, April 21, 2016

The Republican War On Women - House Of Cards Edition


Yesterday, a festering sore known as the House Select Investigative Panel on Infant Lives (a.k.a., the Planned Parenthood witch hunt) held a meeting, chaired by Republican War on Women cat's paw Rep. Marsha "How Many Holes In" Blackburn (R-  The panel is intent on resuscitating the debunked smear that Planned Parenthood is engaged in "making a profit selling baby parts" for research.  Twelve Republican- led states conducted similar witch hunts and concluded that Planned Parenthood did not illegally sell fetal tissue (in fact, a Texas grand jury indicted the perpetrators of the doctored video that ignited the current activity for felony tampering with a government record).  The way it started, it appears the Panel might outdo Rep. Trey "Howdy" Gowdy's (R- Cradle of Secession) Benghazi! witch hunt for sheer laughable, transparent partisan futility.

Impartiality?  What a card!
On the eve of her panel’s Wednesday’s hearing, Blackburn went over to Georgetown University to participate in a protest against Planned Parenthood, the very entity she is supposed to be investigating. According to the Right to Life organization, she gave a speech at a gathering called “Life-Affirming Alternatives to Planned Parenthood,” part of a series of events in opposition to Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards’s speech at Georgetown on Wednesday. 
A factual, evidence- based approach? Surely you jest!
... Blackburn gave an opening statement mentioning the buying and selling of “baby body parts” no fewer than seven times.
And the evidence that abortion clinics profit from the sale of these body parts? That would be in “Exhibit G,” handed out by Blackburn’s staff. “The AC [abortion clinic] has no costs so the payments from the PB [procurement business] to the AC are pure profit,” it said.
But this incendiary “exhibit” — asserting that any abortion clinic that receives any payment for fetal tissue is breaking the law — turned out to be not evidence but an undocumented claim by the Republican staff.
Keep in mind, this Panel has subpoenaed the names of fetal tissue researchers and workers at women's health clinics in a blatant attempt at intimidation that could also lead to their being the targets of an anti- abortion loon like the one who shot up the clinic in Colorado.  Keep in mind, also, that the end desired by these repugnant right- wing yokels is to ultimately shut down a vital source of health care for women.  Fortunately for all of us, Planned Parenthood isn't going to let them get away with it, and neither should we.

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