Knights of Columbus Council 7259 at 211 Irwin Drive PO Box 37, Newton Grove, NC 28366 US - Facts about abortion that everyone should be aware of.

         …. Making a Difference

National Right to Life Committee
                     2000 Yearbook

Baby Boom:
Huge Profits Reaped from the Sale of Body Parts from Aborted Babies

IN the past nine months serious charges that an unsavory and possibly illegal trafficking in body parts from aborted babies has attracted the attention not only of the media but also that of the US, Congress. Allegations that abortion clinics, body part procurers,” and researchers are improperly making huge profits off the sale of body parts taken from aborted babies achieved a new credibility in February and March 2000 with reports issued by mainstream” press outlets.
    In its March 8 program, for example, ABC’s 20/20 aired the startling results of a three-month investigation. 20/20 reported that it had “uncovered an industry in which tissue and organs from aborted fetuses, donated to help medical research, are being marketed for hundreds, sometimes thousands, of dollars.” The episode gave a nauseating recapitulation of the prices charged for fetal spinal cords, brains, hearts, livers, and reproductive organs.
Ethicist Arthur Caplan stated in a 20/20 interview, ‘It’s trading in body parts. There’s no doubt about it.” Added Mr. Caplan, who is the director of the University of Pennsylvania’s Center for Bioethics, ‘‘It’s a sleazy business.” 20/20’s thorough investigation raised serious questions about the issues of profits, the mother’s consent for such use of her baby’s body parts, and the modification of abortion techniques to ensure the availability of usable fetal body parts.

‘It’s trading in body parts. There’s no doubt about it. It’s a sleazy business.”

One ‘middle man” Dr. Miles Jones, talked about the commerce of fetal organs with a casual air that almost defies imagination. He talked about the demand and prices for fetal brains, kidneys, hearts, and livers as he munched “lobster bisque and roast duck,” 20/20 reported. In a hidden-camera interview with Dr. Jones, the Missouri pathologist told 20/20 reporters that by sending different body parts to different researchers he can make up to S2,500 on a single fetus. Although using fetal body parts for medical research is legal, under relevant federal law only “reasonable payments” for collecting and shipping are to be allowed. In the same interview, Dr. Jones revealed that by using, in his words, legal “mumbo jumbo” it is easy to get women to “consent” to having their aborted babies used in medical experimentation. In addition, in a separate 20/20 interview with James Bardsley of the Maryland-based Anatomic Gift Foundation, there is a suggestion that a different abortion technique than usual is used when there is an attempt to harvest tissues and whole organs.
   As 20/20 stated on its Web site, There is evidence that companies may be violating the law by openly trafficking in fetal body parts, influencing consents to donate, and modifying abortion procedures.