U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn's witch hunt for "baby parts" could very possibly endanger medical research and the lives of the researchers.
Blackburn, a Tennessee Republican who opposes most fetal tissue research because of its association with abortion, is chairwoman of the Select Investigative Panel on Infant Lives - a politically-motivated special House committee and attack dragon on fetal tissue research and abortion rights.
At the panel's first hearing earlier this month, another Tennessee Republican House and panel member, Gallatin's Diane Black who represents the state's 6th Congressional District, asked if "there effectively is an Amazon.com for human parts, including entire babies."
Now Blackburn, of Brentwood and Tennessee's 7th Congressional District, said last week she would issue 17 subpoenas to medical supply companies and laboratories. The subpoenas seek the names of researchers, graduate students, laboratory technicians and administrative personnel at some of the nation's most prestigious universities that acquire fetal tissue for studies seeking cures for Parkinson's disease, the Zika virus, multiple sclerosis and other conditions.
Naturally, researchers and university officials fear the release of the names sought by the panel, worrying that such a release could endanger lives if anti-abortion extremists target those involved in fetal research. Democrats on the panel called the move blatant intimidation.
"It's one step further than McCarthyism, because McCarthy just threatened people's jobs," said Rep. Jerrold Nadler, a Democrat from New York. "They're threatening people's lives."
But Blackburn told The New York Times, "we all are concerned for individual safety." As of Friday, however, Republicans on the panel had given no assurances that they would keep private the names of researchers.
Already some research is suffering. Although House Republicans have tried but failed to cut off federal funding for Planned Parenthood, their dogged efforts are having an impact on stem research. Researchers say some medical studies have been delayed or canceled because researchers can no longer acquire fetal tissue samples from their usual suppliers who have grown concerned after a series of bogus and misleading videotapes had prompted both probes and an attack on a Colorado abortion clinic.
Larry Goldstein, the director of the stem cell program at the University of California, San Diego, testified at the panel's hearing that a study seeking a cure for multiple sclerosis had been stopped due to lack of access to fetal tissue.
The House panel's effort is nothing more than the continuation of a smear campaign that began last year with the falsely edited videos purporting to show Planned Parenthood officials trying to profit illegally from the sale of such tissue.
Twenty states have already cleared Planned Parenthood or decided not to investigate, and in Texas the video makers were indicted instead.
But House Republicans don't seem to care about those findings and conclusions. Nor do they seem to care that fetal tissue - acquired from miscarriages and ectopic pregnancies, and abortions - has long been used to grow vaccines for chickenpox, hepatitis A, polio, rabies and rubella.
"We're 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," Blackburn said.
In the meantime, this grandstanding panel could endanger scores of researchers - and millions of patients and future patients.