Press Releases

Congresswoman Suzan DelBene (WA-01) today issued the following statement after Select Panel Republicans issued a final report riddled with unsubstantiated accusations designed to limit women’s healthcare options and restrict medical research:

“As a member of the Select Panel, I have seen firsthand how this so-called investigation has repeatedly shown contempt for the facts and disdain for the truth. At a time when fake news is inciting real violence and intimidation, Congress shouldn’t be adding fuel to the fire by spreading extreme anti-choice falsehoods and fabrications in this report.

“Instead of carrying out a fair and evidence-based process, the Panel has spent the last year publicly targeting women’s healthcare providers, bullying scientists and medical students, delaying medical research and trying to cut off lines of scientific inquiry. All because the Majority opposes a woman’s constitutional right to choose.

“This Panel has been a brazenly partisan and ideological witch-hunt and it should never have been created in the first place. While I welcome the conclusion of the Panel, I remain gravely concerned by the Majority’s calls to defund Planned Parenthood, restrict medical research and pursue future inquiries under President-elect Trump’s anti-choice nominees for Attorney General and Secretary of Health and Human Services. Women, and our country, cannot afford any more of these taxpayer-funded crusades against women’s health.”

Last month, Select Panel Democrats issued their own report highlighting Republicans’ dangerous attacks on doctors and researchers, flagrant abuses of congressional authority and utter failure to identify any evidence of wrongdoing.

DelBene was an appointed member of Republicans’ Select Panel to Attack Women’s Health, which was established to investigate Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers after doctored videos were released from a group of anti-choice extremists. In her role on the Select Panel, DelBene fought to protect women’s access to healthcare and safeguard the privacy and safety of doctors, patients, researchers and medical students across the country. The release of the report concludes the Panel.

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