At a hearing on fetal tissue sales and medical research held by conservative state lawmakers Monday, there was shock and outrage and determination to do something to end the practices and to hold Planned Parenthood responsible for what nearly all of the people in the packed Capitol committee room were convinced were barbaric and likely criminal transgressions.

There were 11 Republican lawmakers who took turns sitting on the panel and there were lawyers, medical experts and Christian pregnancy center staffers taking turns at the witness table.

There were, however, no Democratic lawmakers nor any witnesses offering testimony that might call into question the presumption of guilt that hung thick in the room. They were invited. They chose not to come.

Opposing views will be part of the next chapter of the story, which will be written in regular legislative committees and on the campaign trail next year.

Coming attractions

Monday’s hearing turned around videos released by the anti-abortion Center for Medical Progress this summer, featuring Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains employees speaking casually about selling fetal tissue for medical research. Conservative officials have been shocked and frustrated that the videos have failed to generate an official state investigation.

“This is not some sort of witch hunt,” said state Rep. Stephen Humphrey, R-Severance. “We wouldn’t be here if [the state Department of Public Health] and the attorney general had looked into this issue.”

The hearing was held by the Republican Study Committee of Colorado, one of many caucuses at the Capitol. It’s chaired by Assistant Senate Majority Leader Kevin Lundberg of Berthoud, who said the hearing was designed to be informational — a first legislative foray into the issue and a preview of coming attractions.

“I’m a little shocked that representatives of state agencies [and public universities] would field requests from so many lawmakers and still decline to attend,” he said. Lundberg sought testimony from representatives of Planned Parenthood, Colorado State University and the Colorado Department of Health, but that the institutions refused to send witnesses.

“We asked CSU just to explain some of the procedures around fetal tissue research and procurement. We sent the same request to the University of Colorado. They declined.”

“It’s true that we have no real authority outside the bill process to call witnesses,” Lundberg later told The Colorado Statesman, adding that it requires action on the part of the Legislature to hold formal committee hearings in the months between sessions.

“I think the Republican Study Committee hearing was the right way to go,” he said. “We regularly hold informational hearings, as other caucuses do. We’ve been doing it for a dozen years — on topics like energy, immigration, university tenure, medical costs. It’s a useful tool to get a conversation going, and the caucus meeting doesn’t cost any state money.”

At Monday’s hearing, Lundberg assured attendees that formal committee meetings on the issue would be different.

“Committees of reference will have more authority to pull in witnesses, even if attending isn’t mandatory,” he said.

“This is not just about what’s legal,” Lundberg added. “This is about what’s right. It’s about making our laws match with what we know is right.”

Lundberg told The Statesman that the hearing on Monday was successful pushing the ball forward on the topic.

“Many interesting questions were raised,” he said. “In fact, we have many more questions than answers right now about Planned Parenthood and fetal tissue in Colorado. I see a lot of foot-dragging on the part of officials and a lot of what looks like cover-up on the part of Planned Parenthood.”

Lundberg is chairman of the Health and Human Services Committee. He said he is seriously considering taking up the questions raised in this week’s hearing in his committee during the session.

“I think that’s probably the next step. What we do is make laws. If the attorney general says she doesn’t have the legal authority to investigate, then maybe we should change that,” he said.

In the months since the release of the undercover videos, Planned Parenthood has been the subject of a series of investigations launched by pro-life lawmakers around the country and in Washington, DC.

Fact-checking organizations and mainstream media outlets have noted the power of the videos even while reporting that they contain no hard evidence of illegal activity. It’s legal to charge for the costs of providing fetal tissue, but it is illegal to profit from sales.

In swing-state Colorado, a solidly pro-choice state that nevertheless includes vast swaths of pro-life territory, abortion politics are never far from the center of political debate, especially in election years.

For most members of the Republican Study Committee, pressing the case against Planned Parenthood will provide an electoral boost. For some, however, like state Sen. Laura Woods, R-Arvada, who represents the battleground Senate District 19, it’s a less sure proposition. It could also hurt GOP candidates running in statewide races in what’s likely to be another large presidential-election-turnout year for Democrats.

The Norton show

Former U.S. Attorney for Colorado Mike Norton, now senior counsel with the conservative legal organization Alliance Defending Freedom, dominated the hearing from the witness table.

He held forth without notes on cases he has filed against Planned Parenthood in multiple states, including Colorado. He talked about the state’s voter-approved constitutional provision that prohibits the state from using public funds “either directly or indirectly” to fund abortions. He referred more than once to the audit of Planned Parenthood conducted in 2000 by his wife, Jane Norton, former head of the Department of Public Health and lieutenant governor under Republican Bill Owens.

Norton sat beside his colleagues and friends who were also called to testify.

Barry Arrington is co-counsel with Norton in a case wending through the courts that argues Colorado tax money is being used illegally to indirectly fund Planned Parenthood’s abortion services.

Like Norton, Arrington is a fixture on the right in Colorado legal circles and specializes in conservative social-issue litigation. He was also treasurer of 2012 presidential candidate U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann’s leadership PAC.

At the hearing, Arrington mostly talked about the lawsuit he filed in October on behalf of pro-life group Faith and Freedom Coalition of Colorado against Planned Parenthood, CSU and Advanced Bioscience Resources, one of the companies that sells fetal tissue to researchers.

At the witness table, Norton sat beside Arrington and David Prentice, a life-sciences expert for the Family Research Council, who is often tapped by pro-life causes as an expert on stem-cell research.

Prentice told the panel of lawmakers that the science of fetal stem cells is antiquated, that up-to-date research is done using adult stem cells and umbilical-cord stem cells.

CSU has reported that one faculty researcher at the university is conducting work using fetal tissue.

“What you’re saying is that there’s no scientific benefit, that they’re lying about the science?” said Rep. Gordon Klingenschmitt, R-Colorado Springs.

“Yes,” said Prentice. “The science was popular in the 1960s.” Norton nodded slowly beside him.

“I’m sure everyone in this room feels no doubt that there exists sufficient cause for an official investigation,” Norton said at one point. Lawmakers on the panel and members of the audience nodded in agreement.

It was another strong showing for the Norton camp at the Capitol. In the last few years, Norton has been a star witness and behind-the-scenes player for bills concerning charged social topics such as transgender rights, religious freedom and fetal homicide.

“All we need to act on this is greater resolve among the public,” Klingenschmitt told The Statesman. Klingenschmitt is running in a GOP primary against former Rep. Bob Gardner, R-Colorado Springs, for the nomination to represent conservative Senate District 12.

“There is a roomful of outraged people here,” he said. “Will that translate to resolve in the Legislature? Maybe Democrats will see the way the public is feeling. It’s an election year. This is human trafficking. If they don’t think there’s anything wrong with that, maybe they’ll agree to fund other kinds of human trafficking.”

Early exhaustion

“Have they gotten to Benghazi in there yet?” asked a Democratic staffer wearing a wry grin during the hearing’s lunch break. “No,” came the answer. “Not yet.”

“This has been looked at nationally,” said Senate Minority Leader Lucia Guzman, D-Denver, in her office after the hearing wrapped. “There has been a federal hearing. There is no viable information that Planned Parenthood has done anything illegal. Democrats are not looking away from anything. We’re turning our face to the truth.”

“We support Planned Parenthood to the fullest and we appreciate what they do,” she added. “Planned Parenthood provides health care. It decreases unwanted pregnancies. It does prevention and education on how to build a solid base for your family.”

There is little going on in the off-session Capitol as the holiday weeks approach. But Guzman seemed already exhausted with the politics of the issue. She knows the topic isn’t going away.

“If they want to continue to pursue Planned Parenthood, let them. We’ll continue to work to improve job growth, broadband service and education funding.”

— john.tomasic@gmail.com