Marjorie Taylor Greene calls for legalizing violent threats & vandalism at reproductive clinics

On Tuesday, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) held a hearing on the made-up issue of what she referred to as “Black Market Baby Organ Harvesting.”

Greene has been peddling conspiracy theories long held by anti-abortion activists. “Abortion providers are literally ripping the hearts, kidneys, and brain tissue out of babies born alive and without anesthesia to perform sick experiments on them,” Greene wrote on X Sunday afternoon while promoting her hearing. This does not happen, and as one social media user pointed out, “She is describing murder.”

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But Greene moved forward with the hearing, where she also said if given the chance, she would repeal key legislation that protects people entering reproductive health clinics from violence.

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The Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act (FACE Act) became law in 1994 with bipartisan support. It makes it a federal crime to physically obstruct, intentionally injure, intimidate, or interfere with any person attempting to obtain reproductive health services. It also prohibits intentional property damage, specifically calling out attempted arson.

The Department of Justice emphasizes, “The FACE Act is not about abortions. The statute protects all patients, providers, and facilities that provide reproductive health services, including pro-life pregnancy counseling services and any other pregnancy support facility providing reproductive health care.” The legislation also protects free speech as it does not ban protestors from peacefully demonstrating outside of clinics or distributing anti-abortion materials.

During Greene’s hearing, she casually declared, “We will repeal the FACE Act if we can get our opportunity.”

Greene: We will repeal the FACE Act if we can get our opportunity pic.twitter.com/oKVwVXwm5h

— Acyn (@Acyn) March 19, 2024

Greene also accused abortion providers of taking “unconscionable actions to profit off the murder of unborn babies,” a false claim the anti-abortion lobby peddles to scare folks into avoiding abortions.

The accusations could stem from a debunked claim that Planned Parenthood was selling fetal tissue for profit in violation of federal law after anti-abortion activists tried and failed to entrap the organization in 2015. The man behind the attempted entrapment – David Daleiden – spoke at Greene’s hearing.

Greene also incorrectly stated that “abortion is widely available in every single state in the United States of America.” In reality, the Guttmacher Institute identifies 28 states with either restrictive, very restrictive, or severely restrictive abortion laws.

“No women are being condemned today,” Greene also asserted in the hearing before declaring abortion as “the murder of a child.”

Greene has been eviscerated on social media for creating a “cocktail of falsehoods and fearmongering designed to distort public perception.”

“This research is governed by stringent ethical standards and laws, contrary to the wild west scenario she’s painting,” one popular progressive account shared in response to Greene promoting the hearing. “The notion of researchers preying on live babies for experiments is not just scientifically ludicrous; it’s an intentional deception aimed at conflating legal research with barbaric acts. This is not about protecting the unborn; it’s about undermining trust in science and medical ethics for political gain.”