On Tuesday, March 19, Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) chaired a congressional hearing titled “Investigating the Black Market of Baby Organ Harvesting.” Representatives Mary Miller (R-Ill.) and Chip Roy (R-Texas) were also present, as well as pro-life activists David Daleiden of the Center for Medical Progress (CMP) and Terrisa Bukovinac of Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising (PAAU).
“In my capacity as an elected member of the United States House of Representatives,” Rep. Greene stated, “I’m holding this hearing to conduct oversight and explore potential legislative action that could be pursued” regarding trafficking in aborted fetal organs and tissues, as well as with regard to the deaths of five children aborted at advanced gestational ages who have come to be known as the D.C. Five.
WARNING: Images below may be disturbing to readers.
Rep. Greene opened by giving a broad overview of the current abortion laws in the United States. She noted that “abortion is widely available in every single state,” including states with strong legal protections for preborn children, where she claimed “the three exceptions always apply.”
Presumably, Greene was referring to abortion exceptions for rape/incest, fetal anomaly, and so-called “life of the mother” – it should be noted, however, that not all states with pro-life laws allow all of these exceptions. Alabama and Texas, for example, do not permit abortions to be committed solely for reasons of rape or incest.
Rep. Greene also described the various abortion procedures, arguing that the term “reproductive health care” is largely used in a euphemistic manner to mask their brutality. She said that, by speaking plainly about these procedures, “We’re talking about what an abortion actually is. It’s the murder of a child.”
Rep. Greene pointed out that most women do not know what happens to aborted children after they have been killed, and stated that the purpose of Daleiden’s and Bukovinac’s testimony was to change that by informing the public.
FETAL TISSUE TRAFFICKING
Daleiden spoke first. He gave an overview of the 2015 undercover videos made by CMP investigators which showed representatives from the abortion industry, most notably from Planned Parenthood, negotiating the sale of aborted fetal body parts.
Clips from several of these videos were played, including footage wherein abortionists admitted to “altering” abortion procedures in order to “obtain intact fetal cadavers,” and footage which showed abortionists admitting to performing “disarticulations” – in other words, forcibly pulling off limbs such as legs or arms – in order to skirt the federal ban on so-called “partial-birth” abortion. The goal of these actions, according to statements made in the videos by the abortionists themselves, is to preserve as many fetal organs as possible for sale.
Daleiden stated that these organs generally end up being used in “research” which is funded by taxpayers to the tune of tens of millions of dollars per year.
Daleiden pointed out that “The transfer of any aborted fetal tissue for ‘valuable consideration’ is a federal felony.” However, while years-old official investigations into these illegal practices have not yet borne fruit, Daleiden and other CMP journalists face criminal prosecution and exorbitant civil penalties for daring to expose them.
“It sounds like… the whole goal is to get healthy, viable organs that they can sell for research purposes,” Rep. Greene said, adding, “it sounds like [abortionists] are directed to make sure that when they abort a baby, that they are getting body parts that they can sell, because it is so lucrative.” Daleiden confirmed that this is an accurate assessment.
Screenshot from CMP video of second trimester abortion
THE D.C. FIVE
Bukovinac spoke next. Her testimony primarily focused on the events surrounding the retrieval by Bukovinac and Lauren Handy of 115 aborted children outside of the Washington Surgi-Clinic in Washington, D.C. These babies were en route to be incinerated as medical waste.
Five of these children were aborted at advanced gestational ages, and according to experts may have been killed using the federally prohibited D&X procedure (also known as “partial birth abortion”) or may have been born alive and left to die, which is also a federal crime.
Video was played during the hearing of Bukovinac and Handy removing one of these children, whom they named Christopher X, from the container into which he had been placed. In the video, Bukovinac and Handy could be heard breaking into tears and observing that Christopher X appeared as though he may have been born alive.
Bukovinac pointed out that, in spite of the fact that these children may have been killed in violation of federal law, the Department of Justice (DOJ) has instead chosen to prosecute peaceful pro-life activists, including Lauren Handy.
Christopher was found in a medical waste box outside a DC abortion facility.
NEXT STEPS
Reps. Greene, Miller, and Roy all expressed a desire to pursue official action regarding fetal tissue trafficking, the repeal of the FACE Act – which has been disproportionately used to target and prosecute peaceful pro-lifers – and the deaths of the D.C. Five.
Regarding the latter, Rep. Roy asked Bukovinac: “What do you believe should be the next step in investigating and pursuing the truth?”
“I think Congress should subpoena the bodies of the babies, and they should subpoena Lauren [Handy] to come testify. I believe that [abortionist Cesare] Santangelo should testify, and there should be very thorough hearings,” Bukovinac responded.
Rep. Greene later asked: “My question is, how does this stop? I feel like if all of this information is put into the public, the public opinion would change.”
Bukovinac agreed that the general public is ill-informed about the realities of abortion. She also observed that many left-leaning individuals struggle to embrace a pro-life identity. “I think it’s really important that we show that the pro-life movement is incredibly diverse. It is literally for everyone,” she stated, adding, “This is genocide. This is something that we all need to oppose.”
“When the truth comes out, that’s where changes can be made,” Rep. Greene concluded. “And that’s why we’re holding this hearing today, to begin to make changes. And the biggest change that needs to be made is, there should be no baby slaughtered in their mother’s womb, or partially born and slaughtered barbarically for their body parts to be sold.”
