| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE September 24, 2018 |
CONTACT: Mallory Quigley [email protected] | 202-223-8073 |
Nearly $100 Million in Taxpayer Funding for Grisly Experiments Continues Under NIH Director Collins
Washington, D.C. – In response to an announcement this evening by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) regarding taxpayer-funded research using the body parts of aborted babies, the national pro-life group Susan B. Anthony List (SBA List) issued the following statement:
“Secretary Azar must put an immediate moratorium on funding for research using aborted baby organs and tissue purchased from the abortion industry,” said SBA List President Marjorie Dannenfelser. “Further, Secretary Azar should instead devote tax dollars to ethical alternatives that – unlike experimentation on fetal tissue – produce successful therapies for patients. Canceling a single contract and conducting a review is a small step forward, but overall is completely inadequate.
“NIH funds these grisly experiments to the tune of nearly $100 million, and Congress is set to provide NIH with a hefty funding increase in its latest spending bill with no assurance that this administration will stop or even roll back funding for research that involves procuring baby body parts from abortionists like Planned Parenthood.
“Pro-life Americans are horrified and outraged by revelations that the pro-life Trump Administration contracted with a notorious baby parts trafficker to purchase ‘fresh’ aborted baby body parts for research, at taxpayer expense. Unfortunately, HHS’s response does very little to alleviate the outrage. Secretary Azar must show decisive leadership and fix this problem immediately.”
This summer it was reported that the FDA had entered into a contract to purchase baby body parts from Advanced Bioscience Resources (ABR), highlighting ongoing taxpayer-funded research involving fetal tissue from abortions under National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director Francis Collins, an Obama appointee. Nearly $100 million in NIH research involving aborted baby parts continues unfettered.
Previously 45 national and state pro-life leaders sent a letter to HHS Secretary Alex Azar urging HHS to end the government’s use of aborted fetal tissue for research and turn to ethical alternatives. 85 members of the U.S. House of Representatives wrote a similar letter and requested a reply by October 1.
According to former medical director Dr. Katharine Sheehan, Planned Parenthood of the Pacific Southwest – one of four Planned Parenthood affiliates referred to the Justice Department for investigation for their role in the harvest and sale of baby body parts – supplied organs to ABR for more than ten years. ABR charges $340 per second-trimester fetal tissue specimen, from which abortion facilities were paid $60 per specimen.
Susan B. Anthony List and its partner super PAC, Women Speak Out spent more than $18 million in the 2016 election cycle, visiting more than 1.1 million homes in battleground states to defeat Hillary Clinton and maintain a pro-life Senate. SBA List is dedicated to pursuing policies and electing candidates who will reduce and ultimately end abortion. To that end, SBA List emphasizes the education, promotion, mobilization, and election of pro-life women. SBA List is a network of more than 690,000 pro-life Americans nationwide.
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