Voices for Life Is a blog dedicated to informing and educating the public on pro-life and pro-family issues.
Our focus is to protect the sanctity of all human life from conception until natural death. This includes protecting babies from abortion, fetal tissue experimentation, and embryonic research; and the general population from euthanasia, cloning, population control and human genetic engineering.
At a time when a fetal tissue research debate took place on Capitol Hill, National Institutes of Health (NIH) director Francis Collins made comments that seem to directly contradict the position of the Trump Administration’s Department of Health and Human Services on searching for alternatives to fetal tissue research. In statements quoted by Science Magazine, Collins claimed that research done using the bodies of aborted children is “scientifically, highly justified” and “will continue to be the mainstay” in scientific research. He also claimed, without elaboration, that it could be “done with an ethical framework.”
Science Magazine notes that the “NIH has halted procurement of fetal tissue by its own scientists,” but in most cases, research continues using frozen tissue from aborted children. And yet, hidden in the article is a statement that reveals a significant problem with research using fetal tissue:
“The agency also revealed that a third lab will need new fetal tissue by 31 January 2019.” In other words, the continuation of this research is dependent upon the act of killing living children in utero — a fact that leads many to surmise that there is no way to make the research “ethical.”
“It is unconscionable that taxpayers are forced to fund the gruesome baby body parts trade and that our tax dollars have been used to create demand for aborted children’s parts,” Rose added, emphasizing that NIH director Collins “must be replaced with someone who recognizes that children who are killed by abortion should be mourned, not experimented on.”
Experimentation using aborted children has gone on for a very long time, and has never been ethical. As far back as the 1930s, researchers have used the bodies of aborted children — some yet living — for grisly experiments.
The Trump administration is exploring ways to end the taxpayer-funded purchasing of aborted baby parts through research grants.
Politico obtained a letter from a top Department of Health and Human Services official this week indicating that they are willing to stop the aborted baby parts purchasing if they can find ethical alternatives.
The National Institute of Health, an agency under HHS, has given about $100 million in research contracts to scientists who use aborted baby parts in their research. Pro-life groups have been urging the federal government to end the taxpayer-funded commoditization of human lives, but some scientists are pushing back with claims that fetal tissue from healthy aborted babies is the best material for their research.
The letter from HHS assistant secretary of health Brett Giroir to pro-life Congressman Mark Meadows, of North Carolina, indicates the Trump administration is working toward ending taxpayer-funded purchases of aborted baby parts.
Giroir said HHS is “fully committed to prioritizing, expanding, and accelerating efforts to develop and implement the use of these alternatives.” He also said the department is “pro-life and pro-science.”
Politico did not name the source that provided it with Giroir’s letter.
Here’s more from the report:
Giroir’s letter — drafted in response to a meeting with Meadows and before HHS has listening sessions with scientists on Friday afternoon — suggests that the Trump administration has committed to efforts to accelerate the development of alternatives so it could reduce or eliminate the use of fetal tissue. The draft defines alternatives as “models that are scientifically validated and reproducible in multiple conditions and by multiple investigators.”
HHS spokesperson Caitlin Oakley said the agency has not made a formal determination on whether to continue to fund fetal tissue research. “We continue to go through a thoughtful, deliberative process given the scientific ethical and moral considerations involved,” she said. “When we receive inquiries from members of Congress, we respond.”
Over the past few months, pro-life groups and conservative news outlets have been uncovering new details about government spending on aborted baby parts for research. Some of these contracts have used tax dollars to pay for body parts of healthy, late-term aborted babies – including potentially viable unborn babies up to 24 weeks.
The Trump administration canceled one contract already, but the practice continues.
