After 181 House Democrats signed a letter calling for the end of the congressional investigation into Planned Parenthood, the lead investigator is firing back.
Rep. Marsha Blackburn, a Tennessee Republican who chairs the Select Investigative Panel on Infant Lives, said the letter indicates anxiety about what the investigation might uncover and whether Planned Parenthood illicitly trafficked in fetal body parts.
“The question everyone should be asking is why are Democrats so afraid of letting the truth come out,” Ms. Blackburn said, the Columbia Daily Herald reported.
In their letter addressed last week to Speaker Paul Ryan, House Democrats took issue with Ms. Blackburn’s issuance of subpoenas for records from clinics involved in fetal tissue research.
“These recent steps are completely outside the bounds of acceptable congressional behavior,” the letter said. “We disgrace ourselves by allowing this misconduct to continue.”
Ms. Blackburn said those clinics have refused to turn over relevant documents necessary in determining how the market for fetal tissue operates.
“We must continue to pursue these records if we are ever going to get the facts that we need in order to complete our investigation,” she said. “The American people deserve nothing less.”
Speaker Paul D. Ryan has indicated that he will not shut down the investigation.
• Bradford Richardson can be reached at brichardson@washingtontimes.com.
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