| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE September 12, 2018 |
CONTACT: Mallory Quigley [email protected] | 202-223-8073 |
Groups Call FDA Contract to Buy ‘Fresh’ Fetal Organs “Completely Unacceptable,” Point Out Ethical Alternatives
Washington, D.C. – Today 45 national and state pro-life leaders spearheaded by Susan B. Anthony List (SBA List) sent a letter to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar urging HHS to end the government’s use of aborted fetal tissue for research and turn to ethical alternatives. The letter reads, in part:
“We were shocked and dismayed at the news report that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has signed a contract to purchase ‘fresh’ aborted fetal organs from Advanced Bioscience Resources, for the purpose of creating humanized mice with human immune systems. We expect far better of our federal agencies – especially under the leadership of a courageous pro-life president – entrusted with the health of American citizens. It is completely unacceptable to discover that the FDA is using federal tax dollars and fomenting demand for human body parts taken from babies who are aborted. …The federal government must find ethical alternatives as soon as possible, and should end all association with those who participate in any trafficking or procurement of aborted baby organs. No taxpayer dollars should continue to go to this gruesome practice.”
Signers of the letter include SBA List President Marjorie Dannenfelser; Life Issues Institute President Bradley Mattes; Family Research Council President Tony Perkins; March for Life President Jeanne Mancini; Concerned Women for America President Penny Young Nance; Americans United for Life President Catherine Glenn Foster; Students for Life of America President Kristan Hawkins; David Daleiden, Project Lead for The Center for Medical Progress; and more.
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 the organs of aborted babies – supplied organs to Advanced Bioscience Resources, Inc. (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 689,000 pro-life Americans nationwide.
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