Do what is right and just

Richard A. Sokerka

October is Respect Life Month and in this week leading to the celebration of Respect Life Sunday, Oct. 7, it was a boost to the pro-life movement to see the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) cut its ties with a company whose business is to procure aborted baby parts for research.

In August, it had been reported that the FDA had signed a contract with a company to acquire “fresh” human fetal tissue to transplant into “humanized mice” providing the animals with functioning “human immune systems,” according to information published by the FDA. The experiments were to be funded with federal tax dollars.

Responding immediately, Dr. Peter Morrow, president of the Catholic Medical Association (CMA), a national, physician-led community of more than 2,200 healthcare professionals, said, “The use of unborn human life for experimentation by the United States government is unconscionable. We are calling for an immediate stop to this practice urging the Trump administration to revoke the contracts.”

In fiscal 2018, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), a separate department from the FDA but also part of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS, estimates it will spend $103 million on human fetal tissue.

The FDA claimed its experimentation required tissue from late-term aborted babies, not miscarried ones to create its “humanized mice.” research.

“The FDA says the research using aborted babies is critical to understanding how the human immune system responds to certain drugs and biologics, helping to better understand diseases that affect millions of Americans. We strongly disagree. We oppose sacrificing any human life to justify this form of human experimentation,” said Dr. Steven White, chair of the CMA’s Health Care Policy Committee. CMA’s mission is to inform, organize, and inspire its members, in steadfast fidelity to the teachings of the Catholic Church and to uphold the principles of the Catholic faith in the science and practice of medicine.

Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Archbishop of New York and chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) Committee on Pro-Life Activities, applauded initial steps taken by the Secretary of Health and Human Services to terminate the contract, but urged quick action to cease all funding with taxpayer dollars for research using body parts from aborted babies.

In July, the House Appropriations Committee approved a bill to fund the Department of Health and Human Services for fiscal 2019. That bill includes language that prohibits federal funding of research that uses human fetal tissue obtained through an abortion. But for that language to become law, it would needs to be included in a funding bill that is passed by both the House and Senate and signed by President Donald Trump.

Cardinal Dolan said it is incumbent on the Trump Administration to act quickly to cease all funding for research involving body parts from aborted babies. “The question is not exclusively what is permitted by law, but what is right and just. For the federal government to create a demand for abortion and use these children’s body parts for research is wrong.

“Under a pro-life Administration, there is simply no room for callously using aborted children to further a research goal. This must stop immediately. Our government should only use taxpayer dollars for ethical research,” Cardinal Dolan said.

The CMA and Cardinal Dolan have steadfastly stood up for life. Now the Trump Administration must do the same if it is to continue to call itself pro-life.