Last fall we alerted you that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) was allowing research to be done using aborted fetal tissue. In response to Family Policy Alliance® and other pro-life organizations, HHS ended their contract with Advanced Bioscience Resources (ABR) which was providing aborted fetal tissue. HHS promised to investigate their other contracts to ensure conformity with the law, as well.

Many of you wrote to Secretary Azar asking that he end all research using aborted babies.

HHS has followed through on their commitment to do further investigation, and just last week, ended another contract with the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) that was providing aborted fetal tissue. The agency has committed that they will not enter into any future internal contracts that require the use of aborted fetal tissue. In their statement HHS noted that “the dignity of human life from conception to natural death is one of the very top priorities of President Trump’s administration.”

HHS has also stated that before funding any external grant contracts seeking to use aborted fetal tissue in research, an internal ethics board will review the proposal.

This administration is committed to following the ethics laws that have been passed by Congress that protect the dignity of aborted babies. Another way they are affirming this commitment is by reviewing alternative research models that do not rely on human fetal tissue.

Not only is this an important win for life but it also shows the impact that you can make when we together not only speak for truth, but also take action in the mission field of public policy and politics.

This is one more example of how your voice does matter. We commend the Administration for taking this bold step that promotes the dignity of every baby and upholds the rule of law. We look forward to working with the Administration in the future to continue to see all life respected.

For life,

Brittany Jones, Esq.
Policy Manager

By Brittany Jones, Esq.

Last week, we told you about the letter that Family Policy Alliance – along with over 40 pro-life organizations – sent to Alex Azar, who heads the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). We asked Secretary Azar to cancel a contract with Advanced Bioscience Resources that procured aborted baby parts for research in mice.

The response was swift! In response to the letter we sent, HHS rescinded the contract. This is a huge win for the pro-life movement and shows that our voice can and does make a difference. By your support, we are able to use our collective voices to affect departmental policies like this. Importantly, the Press Release from the department states:

“[The Advanced Bioscience Resources’] contract has been terminated, and HHS is now conducting an audit of all acquisitions involving human fetal tissue to ensure conformity with procurement and human fetal-tissue research laws and regulations. In addition, HHS has initiated a comprehensive review of all research involving fetal tissue to ensure consistency with statutes and regulations governing such research, and to ensure the adequacy of procedures and oversight of this research in light of the serious regulatory, moral, and ethical considerations involved.”

There is still much more to be done. HHS is still doing research using aborted babies, just not with this specific company. It is important that you ask them to end all research that requires aborted babies. They are investigating their practices, which will hopefully lead to them banning all research of this nature. However, they need to hear from you.

Please thank Secretary Azar for cancelling this contract and call on him to end all research using aborted babies. It only takes a moment on our Action Center.

Let him know this not how the HHS should be using your tax dollars, but rather these funds should be used to fund ethical alternatives. This is a fantastic first step and shows that the Trump Administration is listening. But there is more to be done to protect the dignity of the pre-born.

 

Brittany Jones, Esq., is policy manager for Family Policy Alliance

By Brittany Jones, Esq., policy manager for Family Policy Alliance

Earlier this summer it was discovered that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) signed a contract with a procurement organization for human fetal tissue, otherwise known as baby body parts, to be used in experiments with mice. The baby body parts are being used to create “humanized mice,” essentially mice with human immune systems.  So not only is the FDA attempting create a part rodent, part human creature in order to do testing, but they are using aborted babies and tax dollars to support defiling human dignity.

As if that weren’t bad enough, this contract encourages the continuation of elective abortions. Across the country over 600,000 abortions happen annually. This contract only increases demand for women to abort their babies.

Further, it inadvertently encourages abortion providers to mislead women about what will happen to their baby once the baby is aborted. The Center for Medical Progress discovered that abortion providers were tricking women into allowing research to be done using their aborted baby’s body parts.

This is why Family Policy Alliance, along with our national ally Susan B. Anthony List and nearly four dozen other prolife leaders, called on Health and Human Services’ head, Secretary Azar, to end the FDA’s contract with the fetal tissue procurement entity. We point out that Advanced Bioscience Resource, the company that the FDA has contracted with, is under federal investigation for profiting from sales of fetal organs. We also question the transparency and the openness of the Department of Health for concealing this contract and other contracts associated with the Department that involve procuring fetal remains.

Importantly, the letter points out that using human baby parts is not medically necessary to do the proposed research. “Contrary to claims, there is no scientific requirement of aborted fetal tissue to construct humanized mice . . . But good scientific alternatives exist to this grisly sourcing . . . There are abundant modern scientific alternatives, making aborted fetal tissue unnecessary.”

If you are interested, you can read the full letter for yourself here.

Hillary Clinton’s claim that women cannot succeed without abortions is false. The claim that we cannot fully understand the human immune system without killing preborn babies and desecrating their remains is false. We hope you will work with us to restore a nation where God is honored and life is cherished.

 

 

“For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.  I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.” –Psalm 139:13-14 (ESV)

Dear Friends:

10 weeks – brain
18 weeks – skin from upper arm, retina
16 weeks – twins (1 w/clubbed feet), brain A, brain B, eye, eye
23 weeks – skin, brain, lung, retina
24 weeks – brain, eyes, heart
32 weeks – intact head

These are notes taken from a procurement journal, recording harvested body parts from aborted babies at the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center (UNM HSC). The log, which includes entrees from January 2010 through December 2015, provides a detailed and grisly account of the activities taking place at our state’s flagship university; and, up until recently, few New Mexicans knew anything about it. That was until 2015, when some of our State Legislators began asking questions about the controversial fetal tissue research program at UNM HSC and the University’s relationship with late-term abortionist Curtis Boyd.

Since that time, we have learned a lot about the questionable practices at UNM HSC. Among other things…

In 2015, our state-based ally, New Mexico Alliance for Life (NMAFL), launched its own investigation into UNM HSC. From this ongoing investigation, we learned that the UNM School of Medicine sent program fellows and residents to train at Curtis Boyd’s late-term abortion clinic, Southwestern Women’s Options (SWO), in Albuquerque. We also learned that Boyd was given volunteer faculty status by UNM, for which he received professional liability insurance coverage, provided to University employees. Meanwhile, in October, the U.S. House formed the House Select Investigative Panel on Infant Lives to investigate abortion and fetal tissue procurement in response to the viral, undercover videos involving Planned Parenthood.

In 2016, the federal House Select Investigative Panel on Infant Lives released the aforementioned procurement journal, which detailed the collection of fetal body parts from SWO, and, in some cases, what the body parts were used for. Most troubling was one particular entry that requested baby brains from SWO to dissect with summer camp, high school students. The Investigative Panel, with assistance and consultation from NMAFL, also released its full report and submitted criminal referrals to New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas for investigation and prosecution.

In 2017, we learned that women obtaining abortions at SWO were misinformed on the use of their aborted babies for scientific research. In October, a New Mexico District Court Judge ruled that UNM did not have the proper consent or authorization to receive or experiment with aborted fetal parts obtained from SWO. As a result, a 2016 lawsuit filed against SWO will now go to trial. Further, in December, the U.S. Departments of Justice announced that it had sent the criminal referrals made by the House Select Investigative Panel on Infant Lives to the FBI for review and appropriate action.

And this year, the Albuquerque Journal reported on the suspension of UNM’s lead fetal tissue researcher, Dr. Robin Ohls. According to the report, Dr. Ohls transferred fetal tissue collected from SWO to a private company in Michigan, then requested that the Michigan company reimburse the University for costs associated with preparing the fetal tissue for transport – a clear violation of the University’s policy to not sell human tissue. Incidentally, on the same day the Albuquerque Journal broke the news on Dr. Ohls’ suspension, Attorney General Balderas submitted a response letter to the House Select Investigative Panel on Infant Lives, more than one year after receiving the criminal referrals. In spite of the Investigative Panel’s report, evidence, and recommendations, Balderas ultimately refused to prosecute and allowed the criminal complaints to expire.

Fortunately, the federal probe is ongoing, and, in the meantime, we will continue to work with our state and national allies to promote a culture of life and expose the barbaric practices of New Mexico’s abortion industry. It is safe to say that this information may have never come to light without the diligent work of a few State Legislators and NMAFL. So to them, we say “thank you” and “we are here to help.”

At Family Policy Alliance of New Mexico, our vision is a state where life is cherished – not destroyed – and we need your help to make this vision a reality! In the coming weeks and months, we will be sharing opportunities for you to engage and stand for life. When that happens, please get involved and encourage your family and friends to do the same. Together, we can make a difference! Together, we can turn New Mexico around!

God bless you and thank you for your support,

Vince Torres
President and Executive Director