Lankford, 68 GOP colleagues demand DOJ investigate deaths of Washington DC preborn babies

Lankford, Lee, Colleagues Demand DOJ Investigate Deaths of Washington DC Preborn Babies

OKLAHOMA CITY, OK (August 8th) – Senator James Lankford (R-OK) joined Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) to send a letter signed by 23 Senators and 46 Representatives to Attorney General Merrick Garland, demanding the Department of Justice investigate the deaths of preborn babies whose remains have been found in Washington, DC. Images have been widely circulated of the remains that suggest some of the babies may have undergone unlawful partial-birth abortions or possibly infanticide at the Washington Surgi-Clinic. Yet, the Metropolitan Police Department of DC has made the assumption that each preborn baby died as the result of a legal abortion.

Lankford and Lee were joined in sending the letter by Senators Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), John Boozman (R-AR), Mike Braun (R-IN), Kevin Cramer (R-ND), Mike Crapo (R-ID), Ted Cruz (R-TX), Steve Daines (R-MT), Joni Ernst (R-IA), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Josh Hawley (R-MO), Jim Inhofe (R-OK), Roger Marshall (R-KS), Jerry Moran (R-KS), James Risch (R-ID), Mitt Romney (R-UT), Marco Rubio (R-FL), Ben Sasse (R-NE), John Thune (R-SD), Thom Tillis (R-NC), Roger Wicker (R-MS), and Todd Young (R-IN) and by Representatives Chris Smith (R-NJ), Brian Babin (R-TX), Jack Bergman (R-MI), Andy Biggs (R-AZ), Dan Bishop (R-NC), Lauren Boebert (R-CO), Mo Brooks (R-AL), Ken Buck (R-CO), Larry Buschon (R-IN), Tim Burchett (R-TN), Michael Burgess (R-TX), Madison Cawthorn (R-NC), Ben Cline (R-VA), Michael Cloud (R-TX), Andrew Clyde (R-GA), John Curtis (R-UT), Jeff Duncan (R-SC), Ron Estes (R-KS), Randy Feenstra (R-IA), Russ Fulcher (R-ID), Louie Gohmert (R-TX), Bob Good (R-VA), Paul Gosar (R-AZ), Glenn Grothman (R-WI), Michael Guest (R-MS), Andy Harris (R-MD), Richard Hudson (R-NC), Bill Huizenga (R-MI), Ronny Jackson (R-TX), John Joyce (R-PA), Doug LaMalfa (R-CA), Barry Loudermilk (R-GA), Lisa McClain (R-MI), David B. McKinley (R-WV), Mary Miller (R-IL), John Moolenaar (R-MI), Markwayne Mullin (R-OK), Ralph Norman (R-SC), Steven M. Palazzo (R-MS), Chip Roy (R-TX), Marjorie Taylor Green (R-GA), Thomas Tiffany (R-WI), Tim Walberg (R-MI), Jackie Walorski (R-IN), and Michael Waltz (R-FL).

In the letter, the Members said, “We are gravely concerned by allegations brought forward that suggest a preborn baby underwent a partial birth abortion at the Washington Surgi-Clinic in Washington, DC. We demand that you conduct a comprehensive investigation on the circumstances surrounding the deaths of each preborn baby…Alongside passage of the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003, Congress declared that ‘a moral, medical, and ethical consensus exists that the practice of performing a partial-birth abortion … is a gruesome and inhumane procedure that is never medically necessary and should be prohibited…We formally request that you direct the appropriate personnel at the Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation to investigate whether these preborn babies were aborted in violation of federal law.”

You can read the full letter HERE and below:

Attorney General Merrick Garland,

We are gravely concerned by allegations brought forward that suggest a preborn baby underwent a partial-birth abortion at the Washington Surgi-Clinic in Washington, DC. We demand that you conduct a comprehensive investigation on the circumstances surrounding the deaths of each preborn baby.

Alongside passage of the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003, medical, and ethical consensus exists that the practice of performing a partial-birth abortion an abortion in which a physician deliberately and intentionally vaginally trunk past the navel is outside the body of the mother and only the head remains inside the womb, for the purpose of performing an overt act (usually the puncturing of the back of a child’s skull and removing the baby’s brains) that the person knows will kill the partially delivered infant, performs this act, and then completes delivery of the dead infant is a gruesome and inhumane procedure that is never medically necessary and should never be performed.

Photos that have been publicly shared (and are enclosed in this letter) suggest that some of these babies may have been victims of partial-birth abortion or infanticide. In one picture, a preborn baby girl is believed to be a victim of partial-birth abortion. Dr. Kendra Kolb, a neonatologist, estimates that this baby girl “is somewhere between 28-30 weeks gestational age, with evidence of deep lacerations to the posterior neck which presumably correlates to the method of abortion used to end her life.

Official statements made by the Metropolitan Police of DC have made the assumption that each preborn baby died as the result of a legal abortion. However, we question whether such a conclusion can be reasonably reached regarding the cause of death for each preborn baby until an official autopsy is performed. We formally request that you direct the appropriate personnel at the Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to investigate whether these preborn babies were aborted in violation of federal law, specifically the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003. We also request the Department of Justice ensure the preservation of each of these bodies as evidence for future investigations.

John Jay, the first Chief Justice of the United States, correctly noted that “Justice is indiscriminately due to all, without regard to numbers, wealth, or rank.” In that same sentiment, the undersigned recognize that justice is indiscriminately due to the born and preborn, without regard to numbers, wealth, or rank. There is no compensatory reparation that may be provided to those injured by the abhorrent act of partial-birth abortion. As such, justice demands that at the very least, an investigation be conducted to ensure that anyone conducting these illegal, abhorrent acts against the most innocent among us may be prosecuted.

We expect that you will provide written confirmation to the undersigned that you and the appropriate personnel of the Department of Justice and the FBI will either fulfill, or not fulfill, these requests by no later than Monday, April 11.