Twitter Nixes Blackburn's 'Baby Body Parts' Video

BRENTWOOD, TN — Twitter blocked U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn's announcement for her Senate campaign bid, saying that a statement about "baby body parts" is inflammatory and violates its terms of use. Among the claims the Williamson County Republican makes in the video is that she “stopped the sale of baby body parts.”

Twitter found the statement was inflammatory and “likely to evoke a strong negative reaction.”

Following the release of a controversial video by the Center for Medical Progress, an anti-abortion group, Blackburn chaired a House committee that investigated whether Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers profited illegally from the sale of fetal tissue, in contravention of a 1993 federal law which bans the practice, though it allows for "reasonable" payments related to shipping and packaging of the tissue. (For more updates on this story and free news alerts for your neighborhood, sign up for your local Middle Tennessee Patch morning newsletter.)

Prosecutors in a dozen states investigated the claims of illegal sales and none brought charges against Planned Parenthood. A Texas grand jury indicted the activists who made the video for tampering with a government record with the intent defraud. Those charges were later dropped because the indictments were likely illegal under Texas law.

In any event, Blackburn boasted in her video that she stopped the sales:

Twitter's move keeps the Blackburn campaign and its vendors from promoting the ad into the timelines of users, though it does not block it from being shared with a link to YouTube and other video sites, as Blackburn explained in a tweet urging supporters to join her in "standing up to Silicon Valley."

Image via U.S. House of Representatives