Iowa pro-lifers are fighting for the dignity of unborn babies, even after death.
A new bill Iowa House File 2329 would ban the trafficking and sale of aborted babies’ body parts in the state. The bill, introduced in February, comes in response to the horrific undercover videos by the Center for Medical Progress showing Planned Parenthood employees selling aborted babies’ body parts. Legislators in several other states have proposed similar legislation to ban the trafficking of aborted babies’ body parts.
However, the Iowa Board of Regents, which oversees state universities, announced on Thursday that it opposes the bill, according to Iowa Right to Life.
“This is so the University of Iowa can not only continue using fetal tissue from abortions currently in their possession, but ensure they can procure more tissue from elective abortions in the future,” the pro-life group said in an email. “Let that sink in.”
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“We know that abortion is immoral,” the pro-life group continued. “Additionally, experimentation or use of fetal tissue after an abortion is highly unethical.”
The Iowa City Press-Citizens reported in August 2015 that the University of Iowa received taxpayer-funded grants to do glaucoma research and listed fetal tissue in the study. From 2011 to 2013, the National Institutes of Health gave the college $1.1 million for its research, according to the report.
Dr. Markus H. Kuehn, who is leading the research project, said at the time that his lab had access to a fetal cell line but was not using it.
“We’re not actively using those cells anymore,” Kuehn said. “Not because they are fetal, but because there are technical things that they just cannot do.”
It is for this reason, as well as the humanity of unborn babies, that has led some researchers to support bans on fetal tissue trafficking. In an op-ed in the Milwaukee Wisconsin Journal Sentinel last September, six doctors explained why using fetal “tissue” for research is unethical and unnecessary for scientists.
“The argument that fetal-derived tissues must be used in research to develop medical treatments is false,” they wrote. “Many therapies have been developed using cell lines not of fetal origin, including insulin for diabetes (produced in bacteria), Herceptin for breast cancer and tissue plasminogen activator for heart attack, stroke and pulmonary embolism (both developed in Chinese hamster ovary cells).”
The federal law that technically prohibits the sale of aborted babies and their body parts was written by a pro-abortion Congressman decades ago and essentially spells out a process by which sellers of aborted baby body parts can meet certain criteria that allows the sales to be legal. That’s why a Colorado congressman has introduced legislation to totally ban the sales of aborted baby body parts.
After the first undercover videos were released in August 2015, Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad ordered a review of all state taxpayer funding of the Planned Parenthood abortion business. State and federal investigations into these horrific abortion practices continue.
ACTION: Iowa Right to Life is encouraging Iowans to contact their local representative in support of HF 2329. Contact them here.
