Washington D.C., Sep 17, 2018 / 15:56 pm
The purchasing of aborted fetal tissue for use in research is 'abhorrent' and must stop, said 85 members of the United States House of Representatives in a letter to the Food and Drug Administration.
The FDA in July gave a $15,900 contract to Advanced Bioscience Resources (ABR) for "fresh human fetal tissue," which would be transplanted into mice in order to create human-like immune systems for research purposes. It is the eighth contract between the FDA and the company since 2012, and seven of the contracts appear to relate to the same or similar programs.
Federal law prohibits the sale of human fetal tissue for "valuable consideration." Furthermore, the letter states, Congress investigated ABR in 2016 as a part of their investigation into the fetal tissue procurement and late term abortion industries, and found ABR's practices to be unethical and possibly illegal.
The 2016 investigation was spurred after David Daleiden, a pro-life advocate and a journalist with the Center for Medical Progress, released a series of videos which called into question the fetal tissue procurement and sales practices of Planned Parenthood.