{"id":192701,"date":"2018-12-14T14:30:35","date_gmt":"2018-12-14T20:30:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=192701"},"modified":"2018-12-17T17:02:17","modified_gmt":"2018-12-17T23:02:17","slug":"house-debate-fetal-tissue-research","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/house-debate-fetal-tissue-research\/","title":{"rendered":"House members debate fetal tissue in government research: ‘We can stop’"},"content":{"rendered":"
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At the center of a heated debate of the House Oversight & Government Reform Committee is the use of fetal tissue in research funded by the National Institutes of Health. For those who stand against abortion, this research is unethical<\/a>, yet the\u00a0NIH spends about $100 million<\/a> annually on this research. In September, the Trump administration instructed NIH to cease acquiring new<\/em> fetal tissue for research but didn’t halt ongoing research with already obtained fetal tissue. The question at hand is whether taxpayer funding should be used for research that requires the bodies of aborted children in order to potentially create treatments for certain medical conditions.<\/p>\n

At the hearing<\/a> on December 13, 2018, Tara Sander Lee, PhD, an associate scholar at the Charlotte\u00a0Lozier Institute (funded by pro-life group Susan B. Anthony List), said fetal tissue is not necessary for research, thanks to “abundant and more successful” alternatives.<\/p>\n

READ:\u00a0New medical breakthrough could make demand for fetal tissue research obsolete<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

“… [W]e never needed aborted fetal tissue to begin with,” remarked Lee, who built her own lab to study congenital heart disease and vascular disorders in children. “In the case of vaccines, cells derived from aborted fetuses were used in the developmental process, but fetal tissues have never been the exclusive means necessary\u00a0for these breakthroughs. […] If we stopped harvesting fresh tissues from aborted fetuses today, it will not stop one person from being treated or vaccinated today nor will it inhibit the development of new vaccines going forward.”<\/p>\n

“After 100 years of research, no therapies have been discovered or developed that require aborted fetal tissue,” she added.<\/p>\n

David Prentice, PhD, VP and research director at the Charlotte Lozier Institute, said, “Taxpayer funding should go to successful patient-focused alternatives,” including adult stem cells.<\/p>\n

NIH has announced\u00a0plans to spend $20 million<\/a> to develop alternatives to human fetal tissue research.<\/p>\n

Congressman Jody Hice (R-Ga) agreed, saying, “There’s a lot of talk these days about a wall being built. I think emphatically there should be a wall built between taxpayer dollars and the use of those dollars going toward aborted baby parts and the research thereof.”<\/p>\n

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Spot on, @CongressmanHice<\/a>! ?<\/p>\n

“There is a lot of talk about a wall being built nowadays… there should be a wall built between taxpayer dollars and the use of those dollars going toward aborted baby parts and the research thereof.” pic.twitter.com\/jJ4MMFWLNC<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Live Action (@LiveAction) December 13, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n