Hearing Wrap Up: Planned Parenthood Exposed: Examining the Horrific Abortion Practices at the Nation's Largest Abortion Provider

Washington, D.C.— Today, the full House Judiciary Committee held a hearing entitled, “Planned Parenthood Exposed: Examining the Horrific Abortion Practices at the Nation's Largest Abortion Provider.” At the hearing, two abortion survivors, Ms. Melissa Ohden and Ms. Gianna Jessen, testified, as well as James Bopp, Jr., General Counsel for National Right to Life and Priscilla J. Smith, Director and Senior Fellow, Program for the Study of Reproductive Justice, Information Society Project at Yale Law School. This hearing is the first in a series of Committee hearings on the actions of Planned Parenthood. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) released the following statement after the completion of the hearing: Chairman Goodlatte: “Today’s hearing is another step in the Committee’s ongoing investigation into the atrocities allegedly committed by Planned Parenthood. This hearing was the first opportunity for Members of Congress and the American people to hear from legal experts and abortion survivors alike on the horrors of Planned Parenthood’s practices. “What has been made clear by today’s hearing is that no taxpayer dollars should go to an organization that has such a callous disregard for the lives of the unborn. There are numerous alternative health care services that meet the needs of women, including over 13,000 healthcare clinics across the country, which do not provide abortions. It is clear that women have affordable alternatives to Planned Parenthood when seeking healthcare outlets. “The Committee’s efforts to hold Planned Parenthood accountable will continue, and I look forward to working with my colleagues on and off the Committee in order to fight for the unborn who have no voice.” Takeaways:

• This is the first public hearing in the ongoing investigation being conducted by the Committee, and the Committee has indicated that it intends to hold Planned Parenthood accountable for its alleged actions.
• Planned Parenthood advocates do not address the atrocities within the Center for Medical Progress’ videos and have no defense for the horrific acts described in the videos.
• Planned Parenthood receives over half a billion dollars from the federal government and Congress has an obligation to the American taxpayer to investigate its disturbing activities.
• The Supreme Court’s upholding of the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act in 2007 acknowledges the horrors of late-term abortions.
• The House has already passed the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, which would prohibit abortions, with certain limited exceptions, when women are entering the sixth month of pregnancy and the Senate is urged to take up this legislation.

Key Videos:House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.): “Any discussion of abortion is inherently difficult, as it is unquestionably the taking of a human life.  That discussion becomes even more difficult when it turns to the monetary value of the body parts of more developed unborn children -- and to the prospect of exposing them to potentially more painful abortions, conducted in different ways, without the mother’s consent, to preserve the added value of their more fully developed body parts.  Yet these videos force us all to engage in that discussion, one that this committee has been engaged in for some time now, and which now begins its phase of public hearings.”   Ms. Gianna Jessen, abortion survivor: “Planned Parenthood is not ashamed of what they have done or continue to do. But we will have to give an account as a nation, before God, for our apathy and for the murder of over 50 million children in the womb. Every time we falter in courage as individuals and fail to confront this evil, I wonder how many lives have been lost in our silence, while we make sure we are lauded among men and do not offend anyone? How many children have died, and been dismembered, and their parts sold, for our ego, our convenience, and our promiscuity? How many Lamborghini’s were purchased with the blood of innocent children?”   Ms. Melissa Ohden, abortion survivor: “I’m here today to share my story to not only highlight the horror of abortion taking place at Planned Parenthood, but to give a voice to other survivors like me, and most importantly, to give a name, a face, and a voice to the hundreds of thousands of children who will have their lives ended by Planned Parenthood this year alone.”   Subcommittee on the Constitution and Civil Justice Chairman Trent Franks (R-Ariz.): “These video recordings irrefutably reveal Officers of Planned Parenthood haggling over the price of these little organs and body parts, and casually describing ways of killing these little babies, often using much more painful methods like partial-birth abortion, to make sure the salable organs of these babies remain undamaged.” Click here to find out more about the House Judiciary Committee’s investigation.