Embroiled in scandal after scandal, the University of New Mexico recently suspended its research programs that use aborted baby body parts.
KRQE reports the UNM Health Sciences Centers is conducting an investigation into its programs while the research is on hold. The university also suspended a researcher who may have sold aborted baby body parts illegally to a Michigan company.
In the summer of 2016, a U.S. Congressional panel sent evidence to the New Mexico attorney general indicating that the university and late-term abortion facility Southwestern Women’s Options may have broken a state law involving the use of aborted babies’ body parts. The panel also found evidence that the abortion facility also may have violated informed consent laws and that none of the facility’s staff were trained on what to do if a baby survives an abortion.
Among the most disturbing findings was evidence that the Albuquerque abortion facility may have provided aborted babies’ brains to a summer camp for youth at the University of New Mexico.
This week, the state attorney general said they did not find any evidence of wrongdoing. However, local news outlets also uncovered new details about the internal university investigation and the researcher’s suspension.
Here’s more from the local news:
A [university] spokesperson says she can’t comment any further but said they “believe research must be conducted according to the highest ethical and legal standards.”
Among those challenging the way UNM Health Sciences is using the tissue is Jessica Duran, a woman who had an abortion and claims Southwest Women’s Options wasn’t forthcoming about what would happen to her fetus.
Her attorney says he just learned about the internal review at UNM Health Sciences.
“This lady was suspended and barred from her lab in October according to reports and we’re just finding out about it now through some sort of internal leak?,” Attorney Michael Seibel said.
He also said his client was never contacted by investigators at the Attorney General’s office, so they question their investigation.
On Thursday, the Albuquerque Journal released a story after receiving an internal memo from the university stating that UNM researcher Dr. Robin Ohls was suspended and barred from her lab. It was discovered Ohls sent aborted baby body parts acquired from Southwestern Women’s Options and transferred them to a Michigan company.
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Elisa Martinez, the New Mexico Alliance for Life (NMAFL) executive director, told LifeNews she was pleased to hear the news. She said Ohls’ suspension highlights the immediate need for the FBI to investigate and U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions to prosecute UNM and SWO.
“The FBI must take immediate steps to obtain all documents and investigate the ongoing multiple violations between UNM HSC and SWO,” she told LifeNews.
“For two years, UNM HSC officials misled the public and protected the lawbreakers in the midst of systemic violations of laws and regulations,” Martinez continued. “UNM HSC officials have attempted to conceal the suspension of Robin Ohls, in order to mislead the public and pretend nothing is going on. The entire system is corrupted under the leadership of Chancellor Paul Roth who should also be removed immediately.”
In 2016 the Albuquerque Journal reviewed the evidence uncovered by the U.S. Congressional panel and found notes indicating a flippant, even celebratory attitude from university lab technicians as they collected aborted babies’ body parts for the university’s Sciences Center.
The lab technician “wrote in his notebook ‘whoo hoo!!’ when the [abortion] clinic was able to provide a ‘whole pancreas’ of a fetus for another project and drew a frowning face next to an entry that showed that another fetal pancreas was not intact,” according to the report.
The lab technician’s notebook also contained gruesome details about the babies who were aborted, including an “intact” aborted infant who was 30.5 weeks along – old enough to survive outside the womb — and at least 20 aborted babies who were past the 20-week gestation mark.
The evidence came from a larger Congressional investigation that formed after a series of undercover videos revealed Planned Parenthood and other abortion facilities could be selling aborted babies’ body parts in violation of the law.
In December, the U.S. Department of Justice confirmed that it is investigating the abortion chain Planned Parenthood.
Also in December, a California district attorney announced that two biotech companies that partnered with abortion facilities admitted to liability for violating state and federal laws prohibiting the sale of aborted babies’ body parts. Both companies are being shut down.
