On Wednesday the House Judiciary Committee announced the first public hearing in its investigation into Planned Parenthood.
Chairman Bob Goodlatte and Subcommittee Chair Trent Franks set the tone:
Planned Parenthood and its executives must answer for the alleged atrocities brought to light in the videos by the Center for Medical Progress. For the past two months, the House Judiciary Committee has been investigating the alleged acts of Planned Parenthood and its affiliates, and now the American people will have a chance to understand just how horrific these practices are to the unborn.
As PFAW recently explained, the Center for Medical Progress is linked to far-right activists such as Live Action founder Lila Rose, who has launched similar “sting” operations against Planned Parenthood in the past. Operation Rescue head Troy Newman, who runs a website listing personal information and photographs of abortion providers and once publicly celebrated the death of a provider, serves on CMP’s Board.
PFAW Senior Researcher Miranda Blue:
It’s important to see the latest attacks for what they are: one piece of the larger far-right effort to not only shutter Planned Parenthood’s critical women’s health services but to end legal abortion entirely.
The Committee is putting its commitment to this far-right smear campaign ahead of its commitment to democracy. As they take up Planned Parenthood, Congress is more than two years past due in restoring what the Voting Rights Act lost in 2013 through the Supreme Court’s damaging Shelby County v. Holder decision. They should instead be holding a hearing on the Voting Rights Advancement Act.
PFAW called for the Advancement Act’s passage back in June.
Two years after the Shelby County ruling gutted the heart of the Voting Rights Act, voters in cities and states that were once protected by federal oversight are facing laws that make it harder to vote – laws that disproportionately affect people of color. This is unacceptable. Voting discrimination is still a very real, pervasive problem, even if some members of Congress choose to ignore it.
Some members – led by Chairman Goodlatte.
PFAW supporters have spoken loud and clear in favor of restoring the VRA and standing with Planned Parenthood.