The House Select Panel on Infant Lives has been investigating possible instances of illegal fetal tissue trafficking, thanks to last year’s undercover investigation into the subject by the Center for Medical Progress. As part of this investigation, the Panel has issued subpoenas for information from fetal tissue procurement companies as well as from certain abortionists. One of those abortionists, as Live Action News previously reported, is Dr. Warren Hern, who operates an abortion facility in Boulder, Colorado, and offers abortions into the third trimester.
Operation Rescue reports that, with an apparent flair for the dramatic, Hern took out a full-page ad in the Denver Post this past Sunday, protesting the subpoena of the Select Panel. In the ad, Hern appears a bit unhinged in his accusations against the Republican committee members — whom he categorizes as religious zealots and oppressors:
You are using the coercive power of the State to impose your own religious and partisan beliefs upon those who do not share them. This is the antithesis of American society and constitutional democracy. We fought the American Revolution to rid ourselves of this oppressive, pestilential and authoritarian practice….
Your despicable “investigation” is in the historical tradition also of the witch hunts of Medieval Europe and colonial America, the Spanish Inquisition, and other faith-based government programs of sectarian persecution.
Allllrighty then.
Let’s take a step back (and perhaps a few slow, deep breaths). Warren Hern — a man who advertises his ‘services’ aborting viable preborn children (for thousands of dollars) — thinks a Congressional panel investigating the possible illegal trafficking of human tissue in the United States is being “oppressive” by seeking documents from abortion providers and procurement agencies who, as common sense would dictate, would seem to be the most likely candidates to take part in any fetal tissue trafficking.
And “pestilential” — a term also used by Hern — actually seems a better word to describe Hern’s own attitude toward human life. On his website, he links to papers and speeches which present the idea that “the human species displays the characteristics of a malignant process.” In other words, he believes humanity is a pestilence — and he advertises this on the same website where he purports to offer “quality care for women.”
Screenshot of Warren Hern’s website
As for the accused Panel members, they are elected representatives who are investigating whether the federal laws passed by our elected representatives are actually being followed. Still, “Hern described the investigation as ‘persecution’ even though the sale of aborted fetal tissue for profit is a federal crime.”
Despite Hern’s claims that the Panel wants to stifle women’s rights, the Panel actually isn’t determining the legality of abortion at all; it is trying to determine whether federal laws preventing the sale of human tissue have been broken. Nothing in this investigation affects the legality of abortion or even attempts to debate it, so Hern’s claim that the Panel seeks to “impose” a “religious” belief seems… ridiculous at best.
But this wasn’t all he said. Operation Rescue reports:
In his published ad, titled “From Dr. Hern to Congress,” he first rebukes the Select Panel for not addressing him by his professional titles. In return, he accuses members of Congress of being “inhuman,” “callous,” and “delusional.” He chides them for using “vicious, despicable” and “grotesque” anti-abortion “propaganda term” of “abortionist” – a term many abortion doctors call themselves.
“Inhuman”? “Grotesque”? (Surely we’re talking about abortion itself here, right?) Accusations that Congress used “propaganda terms”? (You mean terms like “clump of cells” and “mass of tissue” and… oh, no, that’s not what you mean? Hmm.)
“Delusional”? Perhaps the reader should decide, after reading Hern’s ad (below), what seems “delusional.”
Operation Rescue says Hern’s ad contains “several conspiracy theories” which “provoke troubling questions about [Hern’s] loose tether on reality,” including an assertion that the Select Panel is “attempting to deny women contraceptives” when the Panel’s investigation isn’t even remotely focused on contraception.
According to Operation Rescue, Hern also claimed that the Panel’s subpoena would encourage physical violence against him. But when we consider that Hern’s website advertises what he does for a living and is easily found through any search engine, a Congressional subpoena seems an unlikely culprit. Hern has given plenty of interviews and other media appearances, and he even authored a recent article about the Congressional “witch hunt.” Operation Rescue points out that Hern even (voluntarily) starred in the pro-abortion documentary, “After Tiller,” along with fellow late-term abortionists Shelley Sella, Susan Robinson, and LeRoy Carhart. The assertion that the Panel somehow made him vulnerable to violence seems… well… a bit delusional.
In his ad, Hern also claimed pro-lifers are “a violent terrorist movement” and said the Panel’s letters to abortionists “constitute a program of target identification for anti-abortion assassins.”
From comments like this, it almost seems as if Hern is unaware that he has a website advertising his location and services, is unaware that he signed up to be featured in a film about his ‘work’ — and even went to the film’s premiere! If someone truly feels threatened (by a very peaceful pro-life movement, no less), this seems an odd way to show it. All this notoriety wasn’t brought about by a simple Congressional subpoena, despite Hern’s suggestions. As Operation Rescue points out: “In reality, Hern has done much more than anyone else to proudly identify himself as a very late-term abortion provider. Most people would not be aware that he even received a subpoena if not for his full-page ad in the Denver Post.”
Pictured, L to R: LeRoy Carhart, Warren Hern, Susan Robinson, Shelley Sella
Hern’s reaction to the Congressional subpoena for documentation seems, at the very least, much more exaggerated than it should be. One would expect that law-abiding citizens would be anxious to clear themselves of any hints of wrongdoing — and yet, Hern’s ad seems to be far more indignant than is necessary. Pair Hern’s reaction with the stonewalling of subpoenaed fetal procurement company StemExpress, and one can’t help but wonder: what might they be hiding?
Read Hern’s entire ad below:
Hern Ad Nov 27, 2016 on Scribd
