GOP Planned Parenthood Inquisition Expands To Punish Research Scientists

The Republican-led House investigation into the phony and debunked videos and claims that Planned Parenthood made outrageous profits off of fetal tissue donations has now expanded to jeopardize the lives of thousands of innocent Americans with no connection to Planned Parenthood. Since the entire affair has been concluded to be an incredible hoax, one question remains. Why are House Republicans expanding their inquisition and crusade if Planned Parenthood is innocent? The answer is precisely the same as why the Catholic Church kept up its Crusades and Inquisitions; to use religion to punish heresy and anyone not adhering to church dogma exactly like the religious fanatics in ISIS.

Now, despite a totally “discredited undercover video campaign,†one that several other investigations “failed to turn up any evidence of any wrongdoing by any parties†except the phony video’s creators; an anti-woman’s rights religious Republican, Representative Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) is expanding the evangelical crusade.

Blackburn’s House committee is on the verge of issuing 17 (more) subpoenas on medical companies to get the name of every medical researcher, professor, graduate student, laboratory technician, janitor, secretary and administrator involved in any way in legal fetal tissue research; research by the way, being conducted according to directions by the United States Congress.

Blackburn is an anti-woman crusader highly-regarded by the anti-women’s healthcare rights National Right to Life, and condemned as one of the most corrupt members of Congress and she explained why she is targeting innocent Americans for doing their jobs. She said;

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“We are going to review the business practices of these procurement organizations and do some investigating of how they have constructed a for-profit business model from selling baby body parts.â€

Now, this is getting a little old, but since Blackburn is yet another anti-women’s health crusader claiming Christianity as her raison d’être but has never read the word of her god; according to her Christian bible as uttered by her personal almighty god, a fetus is not a “baby.†Or as Blackburn moronically label a fetus “an infant.†Medical dictionaries define an infant, and a baby, as a human child from its birth to the end of its first year of life. A fetus is not an infant or a baby; it is a fetus.

Blackburn’s committee was created by former Speaker of the House John A. Boehner and called “the Select Investigative Panel On Infant Lives.†Initially the ‘committee’ was created to discover wrongdoing on Planned Parenthood’s part, but with no wrongdoing and no-one to punish, Blackburn is going after any and every person remotely connected to medical and scientific research involving fetal tissue; it is a religious crusade and inquisition using taxpayer dollars and no-one is outraged.

However, the scientific researchers and medical technicians targeted by this 21st Century evangelical inquisition are outraged, and terrified that this latest religious attack will serve a dual purpose important to evangelicals. First, it has the very real potential of halting critical, lifesaving research and second; “seriously endanger the lives of the many, many researchers, technicians, and students when their names are made public.†Making the names public is according to a longstanding demand of anti-choice evangelicals so they know exactly whose lives to “endanger.â€

The latest crusade should also be particularly frightening to every American, including anti-women’s health Catholics and evangelicals seeking to punish non-compliant Americans. Every one of the laboratories and medical research scientists depend on fetal tissue samples to find cures for nearly every fatal condition including the Zika virus, Parkinson’s disease and HIV among many other conditions and infirmities.

This is not the first time Blackburn, a self-professed “small government conservative†used the government subpoena process and taxpayer dollars to interfere into Americans, and businesses, private affairs. Last month Blackburn issued demands for internal and personal documents from over 30 separate agencies to “dissect every conversation between the scientific research community and private businesses providing medical supplies.â€

Democrats on Blackburn’s religious committee questioned “her inquisition†over valid concerns that she was using the committee’s name to incite anti-choice maniacs to commit personal attacks on researchers and business owners. Representative Jerrod Nadler (D-NY) warned her of the serious implications to the safety and well-being of innocent Americans doing their jobs without permission from the Vatican or religious right. Mr. Nadler said,

The committee has no rules in place to protect the names of those subpoenaed — raising the possibility of Congress effectively painting targets on the backs of scientists and researchers for no particular reason other than the Republicans’ desire for a culture war.”

Several members of Congress, including every Democratic member of Blackburn’s House committee said her request for specific information about individual employees and researchers is eerily reminiscent of former Sen. Joseph McCarthy’s crusade against communism in the 1950s. In fact, Representative Jackie Speier (D-CA) compared the religious investigation to the Salem Witch Trials. Speier said,

This time, those being burned at the stake are our scientists, who hold future medical breakthroughs in their hands. They are joined by brave women’s healthcare workers who are simply trying to care for their patients.”

Blackburn’s religious inquisition is particularly “unsettling†for university researchers who, along with students, are being put at risk for a religious crusade. When some schools and research organizations attempted to black out the names of researchers and workers, they were reprimanded and Blackburn added a prohibition on the Congressional subpoenas forbidding the extra security measure to protect the innocent. Remember, this is a religious crusade and inquisition and it would not be a proper one without some innocent human beings to punish; especially if they are scientists.

The senior director of government relations for the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) said that more than 50 medical organizations penned a letter to Republican lawmakers citing their “grave concerns†about religious Republicans crusade to ban fetal tissue research. David Moore said, “We’ve been trying to educate policy makers about why this research is needed and why it can’t be replicated in other ways.” However, Mr. Moore should understand that this crusade is driven by religion; educating policy makers wallowing in superstition and lies is a futile effort no matter if 5,000 medical organizations signed a letter.

Republicans claim they are champions of personal liberty and particularly grow incensed at the idea of the “overbearing federal government†interfering with Americans’ personal lives, or “free market†capitalism, particularly businesses. And yet they have no issue using taxpayer dollars, and the “overbearing federal government†to interfere with scientists, researchers, students, universities, and medical suppliers. Worse yet, they are specifically pursuing thousands of private Americans whose “heresy†is working in the medical and scientific research industry to save countless thousands of lives; something Jesus Christ would not label as heresy.



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