Tennessee lawmakers push more regulation of Planned Parenthood

Tennessee Republicans made clear on Wednesday they would seek further regulations of Planned Parenthood and other abortion clinics, in Congress and at the state level.

U.S. Reps. Marsha Blackburn and Diane Black, both former state lawmakers, made an unusual appearance at the state legislature to testify about their separate efforts to investigate and defund Planned Parenthood nationally and to urge Tennessee lawmakers to investigate the state's three Planned Parenthood affiliates.

"Normally I don't give advice to state or local government, but nothing in these videos is normal," said Black, referring to a series of undercover videos shot by the Center for Medical Progress allegedly showing Planned Parenthood executives discussing payments for fetal tissues. The videos have sparked outrage among abortion opponents and mostly Republican lawmakers across the country.

"You need to aggressively pursue this investigation," Black told members of the Joint Government Operations Committee at the specially convened meeting. Black and Blackburn outlined their next steps for when they return to Congress in September.

Black has introduced a bill placing an immediate one-year moratorium on funding for Planned Parenthood that has more than 160 co-sponsors, she said. Blackburn, who sits on the Energy and Commerce Committee, outlined the steps she had taken to launch an investigation into how Planned Parenthood disposes of aborted fetuses and whether the national family planning organization has broken any laws.

After state Rep. Mike Bell, R-Riceville, informed lawmakers they would have to talk to the members of Congress privately after the meeting because there was no time for questions, Democrats on the Republican-dominated committee complained about the lack of transparency.

"I think it was an affront to the public process," said Rep. John Ray Clemmons, D-Nashville.

Department of Health Commissioner Dr. John Dreyzehner testified that his department is not responsible for enforcing a Tennessee law that bars the sale of fetal tissues from abortion clinics. That responsibility falls to local law enforcement, he said.

That prompted Sen. Mae Beavers, R-Mt. Juliet, to ask: "There's really no proof of what they do with those aborted babies, right? You have no follow-up with vendors or anyone ... so you just take their (clinics') word for it, so if they were selling body parts, you would not necessarily know this?"

Dreyzehner responded: "If they were breaking the law, we would not necessarily know this. That's correct."

Dreyzehner also said inspectors with the Department of Health perform surprise inspections on abortion clinics every 12 months, and had access to their records on fetal disposal.

"We are unaware of any health care provider or facility being discovered for violating (the ban on fetal tissue sales)," he said.

Jeff Teague, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Middle & East Tennessee, has said in the past that neither of the organization's two surgical abortion clinics sell remains of fetal tissues. Instead, they contract with a vendor to properly dispose of them.

There's a hole in reporting what becomes of aborted fetuses, Bell said. Bell likened the conversations captured on the videos released by the Center for Medical Progress — which itself is under investigation by the Department of Justice — as "bringing back images of World War II and Josef Mengele," a Nazi physician who performed gruesome experiments on Jews at the Auschwitz concentration camp.

"If criminal action is going on, I believe there is a lack of reporting on how the unborn infant's body is disposed of," Bell said. "The laws and regulations are inadequate to know if this is happening in our state."

Reach Anita Wadhwani at 615-259-8092 and on Twitter @AnitaWadhwani.