The University of Pittsburg has already been exposed as a major hub for the trafficking of—and unthinkable experimentation on—aborted babies in order to harvest body parts and organs.
An undercover video released last year by the Center for Medical Progress (CMP) featured a demonstration…”for harvesting the freshest, most pristine livers from five-month-old aborted babies to isolate massive numbers of stem cells for experimental transplantation into adults.”
A premature baby, aborted alive via “labor induction,” can be seen under surgical drapes with its umbilical cord off to one side as the baby is cut open alive to harvest the liver.
Now 89 members of Congress have called on the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG) to investigate whether the university is violating federal and state laws.
After receiving the letter, HHS Inspector General Christi Grimm said her office will “follow up accordingly.”
In their request, the lawmakers ask: “…has the tissue being used for research been derived from aborted babies who were born alive and then killed by organ or tissue harvesting? The University of Pittsburg and its partners provide tissue from aborted babies old enough to survive outside the womb with appropriate care.”
Infanticide
They plainly assert: “If infanticide by organ or tissue harvesting is occurring, it is a crime under Pennsylvania state law. It also is a violation of federal regulation which requires, among other things, that “there be no added risk to the neonate resulting from the research.”
In addition, the request asks if the university wrongly altered abortion procedures “solely for the purpose of obtaining fetal tissue.” Planned Parenthood has representatives on staff at the university and performs abortions at the university’s medical center, as well as at Planned Parenthood Western Pennsylvania.
Congressman Chris Smith (R-NJ), one of the signees, was quoted saying, “there is no difference between the organ harvesting from the Uyghurs in China and the unborn babies being used for research by the University of Pittsburg since 2001.” The research is a federally-funded program called GenitoUrinary (genital and urinary tract organs) Development Molecular Anatomy Project. The Biden administration allocated $88 million for fetal tissue research in 2022.
CMP founder David Daleiden has said that fetal tissue experimentation is primarily about the convenience of having an “assembly line” supply of fresh, living human biological material.
An Attempted Cover-up
Last December, the university hired an outside law firm to review its practices. The firm concluded the university is “fully compliant with federal and state regulatory requirements.”
In their letter to the Inspector General, Smith and his fellow lawmakers criticized the review, saying the report failed because it “stopped short of investigating the University of Pittsburg sources for fetal tissue.”
Separately, Congressman Smith has publically labeled the investigation a “complete whitewash.”
An overlooked reality about such research is that there are alternatives to using fetal tissues. For example, umbilical cord blood, or tissue retrieved from surgery on a baby after birth can be used.
In addition to harvesting body parts these heartless researchers, who deny the Personhood of the pre-born, continue useless embryonic stem cell research. After years of efforts, embryonic stem cells have not successfully treated or cured, a single condition. In contrast, ethically-obtained adult stem cells have been successfully used in treating numerous conditions.
The slaughter of innocent children in the name of science will continue until we demand that it stop.
Even if you’ve already contacted your federal lawmakers to demand they call for an end to this tragedy, please do so again and use this article to encourage your friends and neighbors to get involved.
Sources: catholicnewsagency.com; ncregister.com.
By Wayne DuBois
Georgia Right to Life
Media Relations Advisor