[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 29 (Wednesday, March 15, 2000)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E315-E316]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 TRAFFICKING BABIES' BODIES AND ORGANS

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. BOB SCHAFFER

                              of colorado

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, March 15, 2000

  Mr. SCHAFFER. Mr. Speaker, the selling of aborted baby body parts for 
monetary consideration of any kind is evil. Unfortunately, this kind of 
commerce is one to which the Federal Government is enabler, 
facilitator, and partner. Although the current law hints against 
profiteering in the horrific destruction and dissection of babies for 
their tissue and organs, the weakly worded prohibition allows 
unscrupulous merchants to proceed without pause.
  Equally egregious and unconscionable is the Federal Government's 
involvement in the exploitation of mothers and destruction of babies in 
the name of research. Bill Clinton, Al Gore, and their researchers at 
the NIH are major buyers and users in this fundamentally immoral trade 
in aborted baby body parts.
  President George Bush banned Federal involvement in such 
merchandising in 1988. Currently, 10 States outlaw embryo harvesting. 
Clinton can attempt to mitigate the moral, ethical, and constitutional 
damage he and his administration have wrought upon the fiber and 
foundation of our great country by reinstating the Federal ban, 
eliminating Federal support for experimentation with aborted baby body 
parts, and closing the for-profit loophole.
  Mr. Speaker, I hereby submit for the Record the following letter I 
posted to Bill Clinton urging him to respect the fundamental right of 
all human beings, namely, the Right to Life, and completely stop the 
destruction of any human being for ``research.''



[[Page E316]]




                                     House of Representatives,

                                    Washington, DC, March 6, 2000.
     William J. Clinton,
     President of the United States, The White House, Pennsylvania 
         Avenue, NW., Washington, DC.
       Dear President Clinton: In the waning days of your last 
     term in office, you can still correct your unfortunate 
     decision to allow the grossly immoral business of selling 
     baby body parts for so-called ``fetal tissue'' research. 
     Congress will soon hold hearings, and I ask you to join me in 
     this effort to end the ongoing destruction of babies for the 
     purpose of harvesting their tissue and organs.
       As you know, President George Bush demonstrated great moral 
     courage by banning federal funding of ``fetal tissue'' 
     research. Unfortunately, in 1993 you signed the National 
     Institutes of Health (NIH) Revitalization Act (P.L. 103-43) 
     into law, effectively lifting the previous ban and allowing 
     the egregious and inhumane trafficking of baby body parts in 
     the name of ``research.''
       Distressingly, a number of private companies have sought to 
     meet the demand of public and private research facilities for 
     baby body parts. As outrageous as that practice is, many 
     companies have exploited the vague language within the NIH 
     Revitalization Act to sell these gruesome remnants of 
     abhorrent abortive procedures for profit.
       Although the NIH Revitalization Act made it a federal 
     felony for any person to knowingly purchase or sell baby body 
     parts for ``valuable consideration,'' it did not define the 
     term to include ``reasonable payments associated with the 
     transportation, implantation, processing, preservation, 
     quality control, or storage'' of baby body parts. (P.L. 103-
     43, Sec. 112) Clearly, such loose language has given private 
     merchants the incentive and means to evade federal law and 
     felony charges while prospering through the harvesting and 
     selling of tissue and organs from aborted babies.
       Modern America has apparently not learned the lessons of 
     World War II. Then, the possessions of massacred Jewish 
     people, including the gold fillings in their teeth, were 
     sold, often for profit, by unscrupulous and evil 
     perpetrators. Barbaric experiments were performed on 
     innocent, living human beings by their Nazi captors.
       As a Representative to the United States Congress for 
     Colorado's Fourth Congressional District, I am doing 
     everything I can to end this malignant practice, whether it 
     is for profit or for any ``reasonable payments.'' That is why 
     I have repeatedly spoken against this horrendous commerce and 
     called on Congress to hold hearings to investigate the full 
     scope of the situation.
       The question remains, are you willing to end this 
     unconscionable research and commerce by closing the loophole 
     and stopping all activity involving the use of baby body 
     parts or tissue for research? To kill the innocent and 
     defenseless in the name of science contradicts and corrupts 
     the very essence and foundation of our great country.
       Please join me in calling for a complete ban on the 
     destruction of any baby's body for research.
           Very truly yours,
                                                     Bob Schaffer,
                                               Member of Congress.

     

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