By Judie Brown
Once again the practice of using aborted preborn babies for their body parts and tissues has made the news. This time the reporting is based on a sickening congressional letter addressed to Speaker of the House Paul Ryan and signed by 98 members of Congress.
The letter references recent hearings conducted by the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Select Investigative Panel. The panel’s mission has been to look into the question of abortion providers like Planned Parenthood selling preborn baby body parts for research. Additionally, the commission is investigating the scientists who use these body parts, as well as purveyors like StemExpress—the middleman in this equation.
Signed by 98 members of Congress—less than a third of the U. S. House—this letter says in part: “The Select Investigative Panel has continued to endanger healthcare providers and patients with its extreme rhetoric claiming that Planned Parenthood is selling baby parts. . . . Equally concerning are the investigations into scientists doing research that uses fetal tissue.”
These members of Congress are clearly dedicated to the idea that Planned Parenthood can do nothing that is criminal, while at the same time suggesting that the fetal tissue and body part-related research that has been done has delivered positive results to ailing and terminal patients.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
To date, the federal government has spent in excess of $280 million on fetal tissue research. It has funded 95 institutions involved in this research. And to date, as clinical research makes perfectly clear, the success rate for this research has been abysmal. As a matter of fact, the most successful research does not and has never required fetal tissue, fetal body parts, or human embryonic stem cells.
Check these reports out for yourself:
Professor Maureen Condic has made it clear in her insightful article on the subject that fetal cell lines do not save lives. Yet there are plenty of alternative research methods that do. She states: “Using current technology, adult cells are readily transformed in a similar manner and have identical properties to fetal-derived cell lines.”
Charlotte Lozier Institute vice president and director of research, Dr. David Prentice, PhD stated in written testimony given to the state of Arizona regarding a bill to prohibit trafficking in fetal body parts: “Disastrous results for patients are seen not only with fetal tissue but also with fetal stem cells. In a recent example, a young boy developed tumors on his spine, resulting from fetal stem cells injected into his body.” On the other hand, Prentice points to successes using adult stem cells.
Researcher Casey Carmical set forth a list of ethical sources for this type of research, each of which has been at least marginally successful. They include fetal blood cells, adult stem cells, new hormones that are being created, and new drugs like telomerase that can help adult stem cells grow.
In addition, reports state that adult stem cells can be used to treat diabetes and heal a broken jaw bone, among others things.
This list could go on for pages, but the point is that, while these hearings continue to investigate the cruel use of the bodies of aborted babies—not to mention the draconian killing of human embryonic babies to get their stem cells—there are amazing alternative treatments and therapies being developed.
So what is going on here?
Could it be that political posturing has clouded the intellects of those who should be fighting tooth and nail to make it clear that the only successful treatments and therapies that exist today have NOT come from harvesting aborted babies at any stage of their biological development? On the contrary, in more cases than we can note, it is the patient’s own stem cells that make the difference.
Why isn’t Congress talking about this? Is good news that difficult to shine a spotlight on even when Congress is the perfect bully pulpit for doing so? Are its members so enamored with Planned Parenthood and its evil ways that they cannot see facts as they really are?
In my mind, there are two things wrong with the letter signed by 98 elected officials who are defending Planned Parenthood at all costs. The first is that their understanding of scientific research is askew. They are deceiving those who read their tainted letter. And second, they are putting the politics of protecting Planned Parenthood ahead of the truth.
America, speak out and end this insanity! Demand due diligence from the men and women you elect to public office. Lives depend upon it.
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