{"id":187423,"date":"2018-08-25T05:00:22","date_gmt":"2018-08-25T10:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=187423"},"modified":"2018-08-24T13:34:53","modified_gmt":"2018-08-24T18:34:53","slug":"loophole-mn-fetal-tissue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/loophole-mn-fetal-tissue\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Loophole’ allows U of MN off the hook despite breaking fetal tissue law for years"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A pro-life group was dealt a blow by an appeals court this week. Pro-Life Action Ministries, represented by Thomas More Society, sued the University of Minnesota over its research using aborted fetal body parts. But a Minnesota appeals court said the lawsuit was “moot” because in the time since Thomas More Society (TMS) filed the suit, the Minnesota Legislature had changed the law in such a way that the basis of the suit no longer existed. TMS announced:<\/p>\n

On August 20, 2018, the appellate court denied the Thomas More Society\u2019s request to have the lower court\u2019s decision overturned. In May 2017, the Fourth Judicial District Court of Minnesota in Hennepin County dismissed the lawsuit, claiming there was no evidence that the university was breaking the law, that the university\u2019s review board requires researchers to comply with relevant state and federal laws, and that the court, therefore, had no jurisdiction in the matter. <\/em><\/p>\n

Rather than reexamining reasons for the lower court\u2019s dismissal, the appellate court interpreted a 2017 law requiring the university to report fetal tissue experimentation as creating an exception to Minnesota\u2019s law banning experimentation on aborted fetal tissue.<\/em><\/p>\n

READ: University of Minnesota to hire abortionist to train at Planned Parenthood<\/em><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

While the suit alleged that the University of Minnesota<\/a>, a public university that is funded, in part, by taxpayers, \u201cused public funds for improper and unauthorized purposes,\u201d as the Minnesota Star-Tribune reported<\/a>, the\u00a0legislature’s clarification law, issued while the case, Pro-Life Action Ministries, Incorporated, et al. vs. Regents of the University of Minnesota<\/i>,\u00a0 was pending, resolved the dilemma, the appeals court ruled<\/a>. The Star-Tribune notes:<\/p>\n

The suit had argued that the U was in violation of a 32-year-old law regarding disposal of fetal remains from abortions. Under that law, the use was restricted to tests necessary for the health of a woman, her future children or a criminal investigation.<\/em><\/p>\n

The court, however, pointed to the 2017 law that specifically allows fetal tissue research as long as it is approved by the Fetal Tissue Research (FTR) committee, a university oversight panel. The court rejected the abortion opposition group\u2019s argument that the fetal tissue testing be deemed \u201cnecessary.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Thomas More Society says:<\/p>\n

[T]he University of Minnesota has found an unintended loophole in the recently-enacted 2017 law as justification for continuing its long-illegal experimentation on aborted fetal tissue….<\/em><\/p>\n

Minnesota law prohibits the scientific study of fetal remains, except in cases where it is used to \u201cprotect the life or health\u201d of the mother or unborn child, procure evidence in a criminal investigation, or determine parentage.<\/em><\/p>\n

And as The Center for Medical Progress discovered<\/a> it its undercover investigation, the university was doing far more than the law allowed. TMS says:<\/p>\n

It was revealed that the University of Minnesota procured human fetal tissue from Advanced Bioscience Resources, Inc., of Alameda, California. Additionally, it was acknowledged that Advanced Bioscience Resources obtained tissue from induced abortions at clinics throughout the country.<\/em><\/p>\n