In a Monday LA Times op-ed, The Times Editorial Board called for an end to the Select Investigative Panel on Infant Lives, which has been investigating the alleged fetal body parts market in the United States.
The Times’ claims, “The House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Select Investigative Panel on Infant Lives has yet to find any proof that anyone is selling or buying fetal tissue.” The authors go on to address specific instances in which they believe the Select Panel’s findings are more politically motivated speculation than evidence.
For example, the Times mentions allegations that StemExpress, a fetal tissue company, may have “violated patient confidentiality laws by looking at medical records of patients at clinics where its technicians went to collect tissue specimens.” However, instead of refuting this claim with facts, the Times reports that StemExpress’ lawyer and its witnesses claim that no confidentiality laws were violated, as if that were proof enough. Regardless of whether StemExpress violated patient confidentiality, several key pieces of evidence indicate that there is a market for fetal body parts, and that a profit is being made – and the Times fails to address this evidence.
Last month the Select Panel revealed a brochure from a tissue procurement business marketing its services to abortion clinics as “financially profitable,” also using the phrases, “fiscally rewards,” and “financial benefit.” The Panel also discussed its discovery of an online shopping form for fetal body parts. The form includes options for gender, gestational age, even shipping options. Rep. Marsha Blackburn (pictured), chairwoman of the Select Panel, revealed last month that a “profit motive structure” has been created in the fetal body parts market, including the charging of tax on the sale of fetal brains.
On the Select Panel’s website, Majority Whip Steve Scalise explains, “Based on what’s been uncovered so far, everything continues to point to abortion clinics and middlemen breaking federal laws to profit off the disgusting practice of selling baby body parts.”
“This is a business model that puts a priority on revenue above all else, even before the safety and well-being of young women and innocent babies,” adds Rep. Larry Buchson. “And I can tell you as a medical provider that is particularly troubling.”
