Statement of House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte Hearing on Planned Parenthood Exposed

Chairman Goodlatte: A child’s heart begins to form three weeks after conception. By the fifth week, her heart begins to beat, pumping blood throughout her little body and her arm and leg buds begin to grow. Her brain begins to develop. Her eyes and ears begin to form. By the sixth week, her hands and feet begin to form. The following week, her toes can be seen. During this time, she kicks, and will jump if startled. By eight weeks, the baby’s facial features become more distinct.  In weeks nine through twelve, the baby may begin sucking her thumb. By ten weeks, she can yawn. By eleven weeks, she can make a wide variety of facial expressions, including a smile. By twelve weeks, which marks the end of the first trimester, she is capable of making a fist. 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. If her organs are harvested, she will not carry a name. At most, she will be referred to as a “product of conception.” Despite the horrific nature of these practices, Planned Parenthood’s outrage has been directed not at harvesting of baby parts, but at the people who caught them talking about doing it on video. Indeed, Planned Parenthood argues that the videos released by the Center for Medical Progress are “highly edited,” but it is noteworthy to point out that the group hired by Planned Parenthood to review the videos found that their “analysis did not reveal widespread evidence of substantive video manipulation.” A second analysis commissioned by Alliance Defending Freedom reached a similar conclusion. According to that report, the recorded media files indicate “that the video recordings are authentic and show no evidence of manipulation or editing.” Today’s hearing is about the content contained within the videos, including admissions made by Planned Parenthood officials that raise serious questions about the treatment of our nation’s children who may be born alive following a failed abortion. For example, the Vice President of Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains stated that in some cases, babies are being born intact. She further stated: “Sometimes, we get- if someone delivers before we get to see them for a procedure, then they are intact, but that’s not what we go for.” To ensure babies born alive in such instances are given necessary medical care, the House passed H.R. 3504, the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, which requires that babies surviving an abortion be given the same treatment and care that would be given to any child naturally born premature at the same age, and imposes criminal penalties at the federal level to prevent the killing of innocent human babies born alive. Moreover, these videos indicate abortion practitioners may have adopted new abortion procedures to avoid the risk of violating the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act. In the first video, the Senior Director of Medical Services at Planned Parenthood Federation of America stated that “the Federal Abortion Ban is a law, and laws are up to interpretation.” Today’s hearing is in part intended to explore what interpretations by abortion practitioners have arisen since the law’s passage. I look forward to hearing from all our witnesses here today. Click here to watch today’s hearing.