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Twitter blocked Rep. Marsha Blackburn’s Senate campaign from promoting her announcement video due to a statement she makes about “baby body parts,” The Associated Press reported.
The House Select Panel on Infant Lives
Blackburn (R-Tenn.) served as the chairman of the House Select Panel on Infant Lives, a panel that investigated allegations that Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion provider, sold aborted fetal body parts to researchers for profit.
The allegations were raised by a series of undercover videos released by the Center for Medical Progress that appeared to show Planned Parenthood executives negotiating the price of fetal body parts “per specimen.” Trafficking human body parts — including those of the unborn — is a felony in the United States. Spokespersons for Planned Parenthood denied illegal conduct.
Blackburn’s Senate bid
Blackburn announced last week that she will run for the U.S. Senate seat that incumbent Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) will vacate when he retires next year.
The announcement video
In a video announcing her intentions to run for Senate, Blackburn said she is “100 percent pro-life.”
“I fought Planned Parenthood and we stopped the sale of baby body parts, thank God,” she said.
I’m a hardcore, card carrying Tennessee conservative, and I’m running for the US Senate. Watch to find out why… https://t.co/Qaf3n6nz3T— Marsha Blackburn (@Marsha Blackburn) 1507229429.0
The AP reported that a Twitter representative told the candidate’s vendors Monday that the comment was “deemed an inflammatory statement” and is likely “to evoke a strong negative reaction,” which reportedly violated the site's rules for paid advertisements.
A spokesperson for Twitter told the AP that the Blackburn campaign would be permitted to promote the video if the flagged statement is omitted.
The Blackburn campaign urged supporters to share the ad:
.@Twitter shut down our video ad, claiming it's "inflammatory" & "negative." Join me in standing up to Silicon Vall… https://t.co/OfBte2BXSz— Marsha Blackburn (@Marsha Blackburn) 1507573788.0
“I know the left calls me a wingnut or a knuckle-dragging conservative,” Blackburn said in the video. “And you know what? I say that’s all right. Bring it on.”
Is this the only instance of Twitter blocking pro-life ads?
The pro-life group Live Action has also accused Twitter of suppressing its advertisements.
Live Action founder and president Lila Rose said in June that Twitter told her organization that its ads were offensive and in violation of the social media network’s hate speech policy.
