[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 163 (Wednesday, November 17, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2406-E2407]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[[Page E2406]]
HOUSE RESOLUTION 350
______
HON. BOB SCHAFFER
of colorado
in the house of representatives
Tuesday, November 16, 1999
Mr. SCHAFFER. Mr. Speaker, the House passage of H. Res. 350 advanced
the firm position of the Congress in contradiction to the practice of
trafficking in baby body parts for profit.
The topic, sir, is among the most ghastly imaginable. America's
traditions of life and liberty are certainly challenged by procedures
required to support such a barbaric trade as that addressed by the
Resolution.
As further support for our efforts, I hereby, commend to the House an
article delivered to me by Mrs. Kay Schrapel of Greeley, CO. Mrs.
Schrapel requested I share this report with all Members and to fully
honor and fulfill her humble request, I hereby submit the text of the
report for the Record.
[Reprinted By Permission, For Personal Distribution, by WORLD,
Asheville, NC, Oct. 23, 1999]
The Harvest of Abortion
(By Lynn Vincent)
WARNING: This story contains some graphic detail.
As Monday morning sunshine spills across the high plains of
Aurora, Colo., and a new work week begins, fresh career
challenges await Ms. Ying Bei Wang. On Monday, for example,
she might scalpel her way through the brain stem of an
aborted 24-week-pre-born child, pluck the brain from the
baby's peach-sized head with forceps, and plop it into wet
ice for later shipment. On Tuesday, she might carefully slice
away the delicate tissue that secures a dead child's eyes in
its skull, and extract them whole. Ms. Ying knows her
employer's clients prefer the eyes of dead babies to be
whole. One once requested to receive 4 to 10 per day.
Although she works in Aurora at an abortion clinic called
the Mayfair Women's Center, Ms. Ying is employed by the
Anatomic Gift Foundation (AGF), a Maryland-based nonprofit.
AGF is one of at least five U.S. organizations that collect,
prepare, and distribute to medical researchers fetal tissue,
organs, and body parts that are the products of voluntary
abortions.
When ``Kelly,'' a woman who claimed to have been an AGF
``technician'' like Ms. Ying, approached Life Dynamics in
1997, the pro-life group launched an undercover
investigation. The probe unearthed grim, hard-copy evidence
of the cross-country flow of baby body parts, including
detailed dissection orders, a brochure touting ``the freshest
tissue available,'' and price lists for whole babies and
parts. One 1999 price list from a company called Opening
Lines reads like a cannibal's wish list: Skin $100. Limbs (at
least 2) $150. Spinal cord $325. Brain $999 (30% discount if
significantly fragmented).
The evidence confirmed what pro-life bioethicists have long
predicted: the nadir-bound plummet of respect for human
life--and the ascendancy of death for profit.
``It's the inevitable logical progression of a society
that, like Darwin, believes we came from nothing,'' notes
Gene Rudd, an obstetrician and member of the Christian
Medical and Dental Society's Bioethics Commission. ``When we
fail to see life as sacred and ordained by God as unique,
this is the reasonable conclusion . . . taking whatever's
available to gratify our own self-interests and taking the
weakest of the species first . . . like jackals. This is the
inevitable slide down the slippery slope.''
In 1993, President Clinton freshly greased that slope.
Following vigorous lobbying by patient advocacy groups, Mr.
Clinton signed the National Institutes of Health (NIH)
Revitalization Act, effectively lifting the ban on federally
funded research involving the transplantation of fetal
tissue. For medical and biotech investigators, it was as
though the high government gate barring them from Research
Shangri-La had finally been thrown open. Potential cures for
Parkinson's, AIDS, and cancer suddenly shimmered in the
middle distance. The University of Washington in Seattle
opened an NIH-funded embryology laboratory that runs a round-
the-clock collection service at abortion clinics. NIH itself
advertised (and still advertises) its ability to ``supply
tissue from normal or abnormal embryos and fetuses of desired
gestational ages between 40 days and term.''
But, this being the land of opportunity, fetal-tissue
entrepreneurs soon emerged to nip at NIH's well-funded heels.
Anatomic Gift Foundation, Opening Lines, and at least two
other companies--competition AGF representatives say they
know of, but decline to name--joined the pack. Each firm
formed relationships with abortion clinics. Each also
furnished abortionists with literature and consent forms for
use by clinic counselors in making women aware of the option
to donate their babies' bodies to medical science. According
to AGF executive director Brent Bardsley, aborting mothers
are not approached about tissue donation until after they've
signed a consent to abort.
Ironically, it is the babies themselves that are referred
to as ``donors,'' as though they had some say in the matter.
Such semantic red flags--and a phalanx of others--have
bioethicists hotly debating the issue of fetal-tissue
research: Does the use of the bodies of aborted children for
medical research amount to further exploitation of those who
are already victims? Will the existence of fetal-tissue
donation programs persuade more mothers that abortion is an
acceptable, even altruistic, option? Since abortion is legal
and the human bodies are destined to be discarded anyway,
does it all shake out as a kind of ethical offset, mitigating
the abortion holocaust with potential good?
While the ethical debate rages in air-conditioned
conference rooms, material obtained by Life Dynamics points
up what goes on in abortion clinic labs: the cutting up and
parting out of dead children. The fate of these smallest
victims is chronicled in more than 50 actual dissection
orders or ``protocols'' obtained by the activist group. The
protocols detail how requesting researchers want baby parts
cut and shipped: ``Dissect fetal liver and thymus and
occasional lymph node from fetal cadaver within 10 (minutes
of death).'' ``Arms and legs not be intact.'' ``Intact brains
preferred, but large pieces of brain may be usable.''
Most researchers want parts harvested from fetuses 18 to 24
weeks in utero, which means the largest babies lying in lab
pans awaiting a blade would stretch 10 to 12 inches--from
your wrist to your elbow. Some researchers append a subtle
``plus'' sign to the ``24,'' indicating that parts from late-
term babies would be acceptable. Many stipulate ``no
abnormalities,'' meaning the baby in question should have
been healthy prior to having her life cut short by
``intrauterine cranial compression'' (crushing of the skull).
On one protocol dated 1991, August J. Sick of San Diego-
based Invitrogen Corporation requested kidneys, hearts,
lungs, livers, spleens, pancreases, skin, smooth muscle,
skeletal muscle and brains from unborn babies of 15-22 seeks
gestational age. Mr. Sick wanted ``5-10 samples of each per
month.'' WORLD called Mr. Sick to verify that he had indeed
order the parts. (He had.) When WORLD pointed out that
Invitrogen's request of up to 100 samples per month would
mean a lot of dead babies, Mr. Sick--sounding quite shaken--
quickly aborted the interview.
Many of the dissection orders provide details of research
projects in which the fetal tissue will be used. Most, in the
abstract, are medically noble, with goals like conquering
AIDS or creating ``surfactants,'' substances that would
enable premature babies to breathe independently.
Other research applications are chilling. For example, R.
Paul Johnson from Massachusetts' New England Regional Primate
Research Center requested second-trimester fetal livers. His
1995 protocol notes that the livers will be used ultimately
for ``primate implantation,'' including the ``creation of
human-monkey chimeras.'' In biology, a chimera is an organism
created by the grafting or mutation of two genetically
different cell types.
Another protocol is up-front about the researchers' profit
motive. Systemix, a California-based firm wanted aborting
mothers to know that any fetal tissue donated ``is for
research purposes which may lead to commercial
applications.''
That leads to the money trail.
Life Dynamics' investigation uncovered the financial
arrangement between abortionists and fetal-parts providers.
The Uniform Anatomic Gift Act makes it a federal crime to buy
or sell fetal tissue. So entities involved in the collection
and transfer of fetal parts operate under a documentary
rubric that, while technically lawful, looks distinctly like
a legal end-around: AGF, for example, pays the Mayfair
Women's Center for the privilege of obtaining fetal tissue.
Researchers pay AGF for the privilege of receiving fetal
tissue. But all parties claim there is no buying or selling
of fetal tissue going on.
Instead, AGF representatives maintain that Mayfair
``donates'' dead babies to AGF. Researchers then compensate
AGF for the cost of the tissue recovery. It's a service fee,
explains AGF executive director Brent Bardsley: compensation
for services like dissection, blood tests, preservation, and
shipping.
Money paid by fetal-tissue providers to abortion clinics is
termed a ``site fee,'' and does not, Mr. Bardsely maintains,
pay for baby parts harvested. Instead the fee compensates
clinics for allowing technicians like Ms. Ying to work on-
site retrieving and dissecting dead babies--sort of a
Frankensteinian sublet.
``It's clearly a fee-for-space arrangement,'' says Mr.
Bardsley. ``We occupy a portion of their laboratory, use
their clinic supplies, have a phone line installed. The site
fee offsets the use of clinic supplies that we use in tissue
procurement.''
According to Mr. Bardsley, fetal-tissue recovery accounts
for only about 10 percent of AGF's business. The rest
involves the recovery and transfer to researchers of non-
transplantable organs and tissue from adult donors. But, in
spite of the fact that AGF recovers tissue from all 50
states, Mr. Bardsley could not cite for WORLD an instance in
which AGF pays a ``site fee'' to hospital morgues or funeral
homes for the privilege of camping on-site to retrieve adult
tissue.
Mr. Bardsley, a trained surgical technician, seems like a
friendly guy. On the phone he sounds reasonable, intelligent,
and sincere about his contention that AGF isn't involved in
the fetal-tissue business for the money.
``We have a lot of pride in what we do,'' he says. ``We
think we make a difference with
[[Page E2407]]
research and researchers' accessibility to human tissue.
Every time you go to a drug store, the drugs on the shelf are
there as a result of human tissue donation. You can't perfect
drugs to be used in human beings using animals models.''
AGF operates as a nonprofit and employs fewer than 15
people. Mr. Bardsley's brother Jim and Jim's wife Brenda
founded the organization in 1994. The couple had previously
owned a tissue-recovery organization called the International
Institute for the Advancement of Medicine (IIAM), which had
also specialized in fetal-tissue redistribution, counting,
for example, Mr. Sick among its clients. But when IIAM's
board of directors decided to withdraw from involvement with
fetal tissue, the Bardsleys spun off AGF--specifically to
continue providing fetal tissue or researchers.
Significantly, AFG opened in 1994, the year after President
Clinton shattered the fetal-tissue research ban. Since then,
the company's revenues have rocketed from $180,000 to $2
million in 1998. Did the Bardsleys see a market niche that
was too good to pass up? Brenda Bardsley, who is now AFG
president, says no. AGF's economic windfall, she says, is
related to the company's expansion into adult donations, not
the transfer of fetal tissue. She says she and her husband
felt compelled to continue providing the medical community
with a source of fetal tissue ``because of the research that
was going on.''
``Abortion is legal, but tragic. We see what we're doing as
trying to make the best of a bad situation,'' Mrs. Bardsley
told WORLD. ``We don't encourage abortion, but we see that
good can come from fetal-tissue research. There is so much
wonderful research going on--research that can help save the
lives of wanted children.''
Mrs. Bardsley says she teaches her own children that
abortion is wrong. A Deep South transplant with a brisk. East
coast accent. Mrs. Bardsley and her family attend a Southern
Baptist church near their home on the Satilla River in White
Oak, GA. Mrs. Bardsley homeschools her three children using,
she says, a Christian curriculum: ``I've been painted as this
monster, but here I am trying to give my kids a Christian
education,'' she says, referring to other media coverage of
AGF's fetal-parts enterprise.
Mrs. Bardsley says she's prayed over whether her business
is acceptable in God's sight, and has ``gotten the feeling''
that it is. She also, she says, reads the Bible ``all the
time.'' And though she can't cite a chapter and verse that
says it's OK to cut and ferry baby parts, she points out that
God commands us to love one another. For Mrs. Bardsley,
aiding medical research by supplying fetal parts qualifies.
If they were in it for the money rather than for the good
of mankind, says Mrs. Bardsley, AGF could charge much higher
prices for fetal tissue than it does, because research demand
is so high.
The issue of demand is one of several points on which the
testimonies of Mrs. Bardsley and her brother-in-law Brent
don't jibe. He says demand for fetal tissue ``isn't all that
high.'' She says demand for fetal tissue is ``so high, we
could never meet it.'' He says ``only a small percentage'' of
aborting moms consent to donate their babies' bodies. She
says 75 percent of them consent. He says AGF charges only for
whole bodies, and doesn't see how the body-parts company
Opening Lines could justify charging by the body part. She
says AGF charges for individual organs and tissue based on
the company's recovery costs.
Founded by pathologist Miles Jones, Opening Lines was,
until recently, based in West Frankfort, Ill. According to
its brochure, Opening Lines' parent company, Consultative and
Diagnostic Pathology, Inc., processes an average of 1,500
fetal-tissue cases per day. While AGF requires that
researchers submit proof that the International Research
Board (IRB), a research oversight commission, approves their
work, Opening Lines does not burden its customers with such
technicalities. In fact, says the Opening Lines brochure,
researchers need not tell the company why they need baby
parts at all--simply state their wishes and let Opening Lines
provide ``the freshest tissue prepared to your specifications
and delivered in the quantities you need it.''
Opening Lines' brochure cloaks the profit motive in a veil
of altruism. The cover tells abortionists that since fetal-
tissue donation benefits medical science, ``You can turn your
patients' decision into something wonderful.'' But in case
philanthropy isn't a sufficient motivator, Dr. Jones also
makes his program financially appealing to abortionists. Like
AGF, he offers to lease space from clinics so his staff can
dissect children's bodies on-site, but also goes a step
further: He offers to train abortion clinic staff to harvest
tissue themselves. He even sweetens the deal for abortionists
with a financial incentive: ``Based on your volume, we will
reimburse part or all of your employee's salary, thereby
reducing your overhead.''
Again the money trail: more dead babies harvested, less
overhead. Less overhead, more profit.
But Dr. Jones' own profits may be taking a beating at
present. When Life Dynamics released the results of its
investigation to West Frankfort's newspaper The Daily
American, managing editor Shannon Woodworth ran a front-page
story under a 100-point headline: ``Pro-Lifers: Baby body
parts sold out of West Frankfort.'' The little town of 9,000
was scandalized. City officials threatened legal action
against Dr. Jones and his chief of staff Gayla Rose, a lab
technician and longtime West Frankfort resident. The story
splashed down in local TV news coverage, and Illinois right-
to-life activists vowed to picket Opening Lines. Within a
week, Gayla Rose had shut down the company's West St. Louis
Street location, disconnected the phone, and disappeared.
Area reporters now believe Dr. Jones may be operating
somewhere in Missouri. WORLD attempted to track him down, but
without success.
The demands of researchers for fetal tissue will continue
to drive suppliers to supply it. And all parties will
continue to wrap their grim enterprise in the guise of the
greater good. But some bioethicists believe that even the
greater good has a spending cap.
Christopher Hook, a fellow with the Center for Bioethics
and Human Dignity in Bannockburn, Ill., calls the
exploitation of pre-born children ``too high a price
regardless of the supposed benefit. We can never feel
comfortable with identifying a group of our brothers and
sisters who can be exploited for the good of the whole,'' Dr.
Hook says. ``Once we have crossed that line, we have betrayed
our covenant with one another as a society, and certainly the
covenant of medicine.''
____________________