Rep. Kathy Rapp, R-Warren, speaks during a hearing earlier this month.

Rep. Kathy Rapp’s inclusion of anti-abortion activist David Daleiden as a panelist in a House Health Committee hearing last week is being criticized by the Pennsylvania Women’s Health Caucus.

Sen. Judy Schwank, D-Berks, Sen. Amanda M. Cappelletti, D-Montgomery, Rep. Morgan Cephas, D-Philadelphia, and Rep. Mary Jo Daley, D-Montgomery, said in a recent joint statement that the hearing, chaired by Rapp, R-Warren, was a “dangerous display of misinformation” by hosting Daleiden of the Center for Medical Progress.

During last week’s hearing, Rapp said one of the criticisms she has heard in the past was that the Health Committeee hasn’t held hearings on abortion. That criticism was repeated whenever the committee moved forward with a pro-life bill.

“That was one of the reasons, when we started hearing about what was going on in Pittsburgh, to have the hearings,” Rapp said. “Plus when we run pro-life bills we’re always told we never have hearings — this was a chance to have the hearings and try to air out as much as possible in committee meetings so that when we get on the floor legislators can say we flushed all this out during our hearings.”

Democrats initially gave Rapp credit for having the hearings, including allowing Democrats to speak their minds. That changed last week when the Women’s Health Caucus and Rep. Dan Frankel, D-Allegheny, spoke out after the testimony of Daleiden.

Daleiden uses undercover videos to docoument what he says are illegal acquisition of fetal tissue and the unethical uses of fetal tissue. The day before Daladein’s testimony, the Center for Medical Progress released a video showing what it alleges are government-sponsored experiments on aborted human fetuses at the University of Pittsburgh. The Women’s Health Caucus said the videos were heavily edited, had been debunked and that investigations had shown that Planned Parenthood did not break any laws.

“Today’s hearing in the Pennsylvania House Health Committee was a dangerous display of misinformation that hinders public understanding about safe and legal medical procedures,” the legislators said. “Hearings are supposed to serve as a forum for dialogue between legislators and expert testifiers so we, as elected officials, can create policy that is based in reality and driven by facts. Unfortunately, that has not been the case for the series of hearings that have been paraded in front of us for the last few weeks because the experts who testified were counterbalanced by unqualified and politically motivated individuals. At today’s hearing in particular, the Majority Chair of the Health Committee gave a platform to an actor whose false and dangerous rhetoric has been linked to inciting violence.”

Daleiden has been sued in California for a 2015 video that he said showed Planned Parenthood officials negotiating the sale of aborted fetus body parts. Planned Parenthood then filed a lawsuit in federal court alleging fraud, trespass, unlawful recording and breach of contract. Daleiden and the Center for Medical Progress have appealed the judge’s ruling, which awarded $400,000 in consulting fees, $1 million in punitive damages and $13 million in attorneys fees after a civil jury ruled Daleiden and his organization conspired to commit fraud, breach of contract and trespass and to violate federal and state recording laws in Maryland, California and Florida. Daleiden’s appeal is ongoing.

“Hearings like this one provide a platform and give a veneer of credibility to fantasies developed in the minds of people who want one thing, and one thing alone: to block access to abortion,” Frankel said. “The accusations discussed today are abhorrent, and fortunately, they are untrue. Tissue donation is carefully regulated, and the process is entirely set up to help improve and protect human life. If an organization breaks the rules, there are, appropriately, consequences in place. Scientific advancements to combat our most cruel diseases — like ALS, Parkinson’s and HIV — depend on the study of human tissue and fetal tissue. I fail to see how attacking that research is compatible with the protection of life.”