An internal memo has been uncovered that proves that the Centers for Disease Control in fact did cover up abortion data. Surprisingly, the memo was discovered by the left-wing group Media Matters for America and publicly exposed by RedState.
Several days ago, RedState exposed the CDC’s failure to publish its annual “Abortion Surveillance Report” and touted it as an example of the failure of federal agencies to remain transparent. According to the news source, “Transparency and factual accuracy are important in the abortion debate” and the agency’s failure to publish the report proved its unwillingness to maintain an open and honest discussion on the issue of abortion.
This is not the first time the CDC has proven its operations to be shady or inept. In December, the federal agency was reportedly under investigation of its inventories after accusations arose that $22 million of its property has been lost or stolen in 2007. The CDC defended itself in this case as it allegedly located 99 percent of the lost property — eventually.
In the case of the unpublished report, however, an overview of the communications between the CDC and RedState reveals actions even more questionable on the part of the CDC. RedState writes:
Each year since 1969, the Centers for Disease Control has published its “Abortion Surveillance System” the week after Thanksgiving in its professional journal, The Mortality and Morbidity Weekly Report (MMWR).
Two weeks ago, RedState contacted the CDC to inquire if and when the data would be released. We were told by their press office — direct quotes — that the CDC “will not have stats available at any time in the near future” and there “are no plans for them to come out any time soon.”
On Friday, the CDC reversed its position and claimed that the data would come out in February. Later that day, the CDC said the data would be out February 25.
Now Media Matters has released a memo that gives away the game. And it may be time for a congressional hearing into what happened:
Let us just be clear about the CDC’s last minute story to us. The hold up, according to the CDC, was its need to get population data. This ignores the fact that the CDC’s 2010 report will use data from 2007, including population data from 2007, readily available to anyone with an internet connection since … well … 2007, courtesy of the Census Bureau — another organization that, like the CDC, just so happens to be part of something called the federal government.
Later, Media Matters discovered an internal CDC memo and confirmed that the agency did in fact have the information it alleged it did not have. The report was apparently submitted for review and editing on November 12. The CDC was in fact trying to cover up the abortion data and delay — if not entirely avoid— its publication.
What does this mean? According to RedState,
Someone at the CDC received the report to review and edit, and caused it not to be released on its usual schedule, with no publicly stated reason why and no apparent interest in releasing it until we publicized the issue.
The question that now needs to be [asked] — perhaps ultimately to Congress — is who made that decision, who told them to make that decision, and why. With Media Matters’ help, Congress will now know where to start asking those questions.
Of course, the very idea that Congress would actually use any of its precious time to investigate such a matter seems absurd, and most people are not holding their breath. However, the situation does reveal yet another failure on the part of the federal government to fulfill its promise of openness and transparency; furthermore, the administration’s disinterest in investigating matters such as this best shows the promise to be broken.
