Prohibitions Regarding Human Fetal Tissue.
That is the topic. That is the heading right here in the United
States Code.
Purchase of tissue. It shall be unlawful for any person to
knowingly acquire, receive, or otherwise transfer any fetal
tissue for valuable consideration if the transfer affects
interstate commerce.
Criminal penalties for such violations.
In general, any person who violates subsection--
The one I just referenced--
shall be fined in accordance with title 18, U.S. Code,
subject to paragraph 2, or imprisoned for not more than 10
years, or both.
The term ``valuable consideration'' does not include
reasonable payments associated with the transportation,
implantation, processing, preservation, quality control, or
storage of human fetal tissue.
It is against the law, ladies and gentlemen, my fellow Americans, and colleagues, it is against the law to do this. And they are doing it
every day to our children--every day. So 10 years in jail if you sell human fetal tissue. That was signed into law, ironically, by President
William Jefferson Clinton. It took effect on June 3, 1993. But the lawyers went to work, as only lawyers can do. They found a loophole: How can we sell this tissue, make a profit at the expense of this poor woman victim, and get it to research, and hide it all by calling it research? How do we do that without getting caught and
getting our tails thrown in jail?
That was the question. So they found it in section D(3) which:
. . . allows reasonable payments associated with the
transportation, implantation, processing, preservation,
quality control, or storage of human fetal tissue.
That is the loophole I just read out of the book.
But because there is no documentation, no disclosure, no government oversight, this section has become a gigantic loophole to allow this industry to engage in the illegal trafficking of body parts of fetal tissue without any prosecution. Mr. President, we need a big beam of light to shine into this industry, to got into the darkness and find out what is going on in this for-profit industry. We need some sunshine. We need it so badly. I am not looking to get into the medical records of individuals. That is not what I am about. But I believe if we are going to allow the use of fetal tissue from aborted fetuses --I mean aborted fetuses for research, which I believe we should not--if we are, we need at least a minimum of documentation to ensure this tissue is not being sold in violation of Federal criminal law.Is partial-birth abortion used for this? I don't know. Why not find out? Let's shine the light in. Let's talk about a few things that might make you think, however, that there is a link here. Your call. You listen. You make your own determination.
Let us talk about dilation and evacuation, the so-called D&E, for a
moment. This method, which is performed during months 4 to 6, 6 months, is particularly gruesome in that the doctor must tear out the baby parts with a pliers-like instrument. Literally disassembles it in the womb. It is horrible. No wonder they are angry when they get home and sick, sick before they start. Then the nurse gruesomely has to take all these body parts of this child who was torn apart in the womb and reassemble them in a pan to be sure they got it all. That is the first method.
I will just ask you to think, as we go through this, if you are in
the business of selling body parts, how is that going to work with your
buyer, if all the body parts are torn apart? I think you would say,
well, probably it isn't going to be much good. There might be some
tissue, but if you need intact organs, disassembling the organs ought
to lead you to believe, reasonably, I think, they are probably not very good. If you need a liver and it is all chopped up in this procedure, it is probably not going to do you much good. So the D&E method is not real good for selling body parts. But that is one type of abortion.
The next is the saline abortion. This occurs after the first
trimester. The abortionist injects a strong salt solution into the
amniotic sac and, over a period of an hour, the baby is basically
poisoned and burned to death in her mother's womb. That is the saline
solution. So now I ask you again, if you are selling body parts, and
the buyers want good body parts, good condition, that is not going to
do a lot of good. That is not going to make your product very
marketable. That is probably not a good method either.
The next one is a little more grotesque, if you can imagine that.
This is called the dig method, or digoxin method. It is called
harpooning the whale inside the industry. You see, even in the industry they can't even be respectful to the child or even the woman in some cases, the mother. They use terms such as that, ``harpooning the whale.'' The abortionist inserts a needle containing digoxin into the abdomen of the woman. In order to make sure the doctor hits the baby and not the woman, which would be lethal for her as well, he must watch to see the needle begin moving wildly. And when it does move wildly, he knows he has harpooned the whale and can push his needle all the way through and kill the baby. this abortion procedure is probably the least desired method for the body parts people because the baby's organs are, in essence, liquefied by this horrible poison. They are basically worthless to the body parts market
Those are three types of abortions. They have nothing to do with
partial-birth abortion. I use these examples of three types of
abortions to show you they basically make the sale of body parts
worthless for the most part. Some tissue I am sure they can use.
So where are they getting these things? Ask yourself, what have we
been talking about all day? How can we get a good specimen, a baby
whose organs are intact, a good cadaver? You can do it two ways. You
could have a live birth and kill it, or you could have a partial-birth
abortion, kill it that way, and damage only the brain so the rest of
the body is good for research.
Now, is this happening? Shine the light in. There are going to be
people who say that I have made this link. I will tell you right now, I
haven't. I am asking you to shine the light into this industry. Bring
in the sunshine. Let's look in the clinics. Let's find out what is
going on. Are they being used? We will take a look in a few moments at
some of the things going on here. I ask you whether or not you think
they might be getting these parts from some other source of abortion
other than partial-birth abortions. I don't know. I know one thing. It is a black market. It is illegal. It is unreported, and it is
unregulated. If it is the last thing I do before I leave this body, I
will change that. I am going to change that.
The good news is abortion rates are down. That is good. But the
problem is, because they are down and because the doctors aren't doing them, they have to make it up somewhere. The industry has to make up the money. They have to make it up. Where do they do that? By selling body parts. That is where they make it up. It is really the dark side of the industry.
This is the testimony of a woman who calls herself Kelly, a
fictitious name. Kelly was working and received a service fee from the
Anatomic Gift Foundation, which is the wholesaler, the harvester, of
these organs.
Listen to what Kelly had to say. Kelly fears for her life. That is
why Kelly is a fictitious name and why Kelly is not being identified.
``We were never employees of the abortion clinic,'' Kelly explains.
That is when they would sit in the clinic, in this room, and the lady
comes in pregnant.
``We would have a contract with the clinic . . . .''
Listen very carefully to what I am saying. A woman comes in. I am
sorry. I am confusing the stenographer. I will go through the quote
first and then explain it.
We were never employees of the abortion clinic. We would
have a contract with an abortion clinic that would allow us
to go in to procure fetal tissue for research. We would get a
generated list each day to tell us what tissue researchers,
pharmaceuticals and universities were looking for. Then we
would go and look at the particular patient charts. We had to
screen out anyone who had STDs or fetal anomalies. These had
to be the most perfect specimens we could give these
researchers for the best value that we could sell for.
Probably only 10 percent of fetuses were ruled out for
anomalies. The rest were healthy donors.
To capsulate, a woman is in the abortion clinic, and basically they
are eyeing up the source. It is like a hunter going out and seeing, I
guess in this case, a trophy doe rather than a trophy buck, and saying,
there is a good specimen there. I hope that baby is fairly normal so I
can sell the body parts. And they looked at the patients' charts while
this child was alive in the womb. This girl might change her mind on
whether to have this abortion, and nobody is helping her change her
mind or asking her if she would like to change her mind. Oh, no, we
have a contract here. We have a patient chart here. We have somebody
looking at her, looking at the trophy and then saying: Hey, this chart
looks real good, this gal has what we want; she has a normal baby
there. My goodness, a perfect specimen, the most perfect specimen we
could find. So give the researchers the best value we could sell for.
Her words. Probably only 10 percent of fetuses were ruled out for
anomalies; the rest were healthy donors. So said Kelly.
Let's look at a work order. This is a work order. Mailing address,
shipping address, everything. OK. Tissue, fetal lung; one or both from
the same donor, 12 to 16 weeks. Preservation: Fresh. Gestation: 12 to 16. Shipping: Wet ice. Constraints: No known abnormalities. We don't want any babies who have any problems. Obtain tissue under sterile or clean conditions.
Let me ask you a question, colleagues. In this filthy, dirty,
disgusting business we are talking about, do you really think you can
get a perfect lung, with no cuts and no abnormalities, by chopping up
the child in the womb or putting all of this poison in the body, in the
womb, in the embryonic sack? Or do you think it might be possible that the best way to get a normal lung is to bring a child through the birth canal in perfect condition, damaging only the brain, or perhaps even a live birth? Oh, you think that would not happen? Well, we will talk about that in a little while. Oh, yes, it happens.
Look here: ``Normal fetal liver.'' A normal fetal liver is not one
filled with poison. It is not a liver that has been chopped up. It is a
normal fetal liver. There aren't too many ways you can get a normal
fetal liver in an abortion clinic. ``Dissect fetal liver and thymus and
occasional lymph node from fetal cadaver within 10 minutes of the time it is extracted, and ship within 12 hours.'' ``No abnormal donors.''
There is a whole lot of money in this business, folks. With abortions
down, they will charge a woman anywhere from $300 to $1,000 for an
abortion and make several thousand dollars on the parts of her child.
But she doesn't get any of that money, you can bet on that.
Let's look at another work order. The National Institutes of Health
gets the delivery here. If you are pro-life, you will be ``pleased'' to
know they are getting some of this stuff. ``I would prefer tissues
without identified anomalies; in particular, bone anomalies.''
Let's look at another one. This is just the tip of the iceberg. I
could give you hundreds of these work orders. I am picking a few of
them.
Now, this one is particularly disturbing--as if the others weren't.
Here is the donor criterion on this. We are talking about whole eyes.
Now, the donor criterion is that the child be ``brain dead.'' Think
about that for a minute. Why would you put that on there? Are we to
assume this child is going to be delivered to them live?
I assume if a child has been aborted and it is being sold, or
provided, or donated, or whatever it is, to some research center, we
ought to assume it is dead. Well, they are not assuming it. They are
not assuming it at all. They are directing it: Make sure it is ``brain
dead.'' If anything else is moving, that is OK. Maybe the heart is
beating, and that is OK. But make sure it is brain dead, noncadaver,
and post 4 to 6 hours, any age. Again, no contagious diseases. ``Remove
eye with as much nerve''--they go into that. Federal Express--send it
out. That is against the law.
So let's say a girl walks into a clinic and sits down to wait. I want
to try to paint you a picture of what happens. A girl walks into a
clinic and sits down to wait. A fax comes in, and the fax contains a
list of what body parts are needed for that day. So here she comes. She still hasn't had the abortion. But they now have this list--the
abortionist perhaps, but I don't know; I have not seen this. Perhaps he looks through the glass window, and maybe there is a one-way glass. He looks out into the waiting room and stares at her stomach and knows this is the very same child who is very much alive now, perhaps even moving and kicking; he knows that child will be dead in a few moments, and they already have the work order. They have already checked the charts, already know it is normal; they already know what they need. They are already planning it all.
If that is not sick, if that doesn't bother you, then, man, there is
something wrong with the people in this country--big-time wrong.
After her abortion, in a matter of 10 minutes, if it is done then,
that baby can be shipped on wet ice to researchers across the country, just like going into a supermarket and buying a piece of meat.......
There are two statutes that govern fetal tissue research, and both
statutes were passed as part of S. 1 in 1993, the National Institutes
of Health and Revitalization Act of 1993. I was one of four Senators
who voted no, as usual, because I don't believe Government should be
doing any research on induced abortions, aborted fetuses. Up until
1992, we had a President, George Bush, who agreed. But Bill Clinton
changed all of that. But even President Clinton, who signed the fetal
tissue research Executive order as one of the first acts of his
Presidency, was unwilling to accept the sale of fetal tissues.
Prior to 1993, there was a moratorium prohibiting Federal funding of
fetal tissue research. That was overturned by President Clinton by
Executive order on January 22, 1993. And Senator Kennedy introduced S.
1 to codify Clinton's Executive order. Part of that was because this
``statute permits the National Research Institutes to conduct support
research on the transplantation of human fetal tissue for therapeutic
purposes.'' The source of the tissue may be from an abortion where the
informed consent of the donor is granted. This statute allows for
Federal money to be used in fetal tissue research. And you will see
that NIH is involved in this.
The second statute made it unlawful to transfer any human fetal
tissue for valuable consideration. I talked about this statute. In
other words, it is illegal to give monetary value to the various body
parts being sold. And it is illegal to profit from the sale. The guilty
receive fines and imprisonment for not more than 10 years. As long as
the tissue is donated, it is OK. But large amounts of cash are changing
hands.
Again, abortion clinics and the wholesalers are making a killing--
that is a sick pun, a killing--literally with the abortion and with the
sale of human baby parts.
Listen to what one of the leaders of fetal body parts marketing said
in an interview with a pro-life publication: ``Nearly 75 percent of the
women who chose abortion agree to donate the fetal tissue.''
Granted, this organization claims to only operate out of two abortion
clinics. But if you apply their statistic nationwide, for theoretical
purposes, you are talking about a lot of aborted babies being sold for
cold, hard cash.
In addition, the consulting firm of Frost & Sullivan recently
reported that the worldwide market for sale in tissue cultures brought
in nearly $428 million in 1996, and they predict that market will
continue to expand and will grow at an annual rate of 13.5 percent a
year, and by 2002 will be worth nearly $1 billion. That is a whole lot
of money at the expense of these unfortunate women.
In a taped conversation with the wholesaler, she says they do not buy
the tissue. That is the way it works. That is really what happens.
In a taped conversation with another marketer of fetal body parts, they admit to try to get abortion clinics to alter procedures to get better tissue, which is a violation of Federal law. This person then
offers discounts for being a ``high volume'' user, and that the buyer
can save money by purchasing their cost-effective, lower-range product.
Let's look now at a chart offered by Opening Lines, and you tell me
if this isn't a business transaction for profit. Bear in mind the sale
of body parts is illegal. You are not supposed to receive any
consideration. Well, then maybe you could tell me why--this is one of
those wholesalers, Opening Lines. Maybe you could tell me why they have
a price list. Has anybody ever done any marketing before?
Look. You can get a kidney for $125. You can get a spinal cord for
$325. Then down at the bottom, it says prices in effect through
December 31, 1999. That is a price list, ladies and gentlemen. I
suppose there will be somebody who will come down here and say, ``Well,
Senator, that is not a price list. That is fee-for-service.''
That is what it says at the top.
What is the service? You say: Well, you know it is expensive. You
have to take the brain out, or you have to take the spinal cord out.
OK. We take the spinal cord out. I am not a doctor. I am not going to
pretend to be. I am not going to make any reference to how difficult
that might be.
But let's assume to remove a spinal cord from a child is a difficult
operation. They are charging $325 for the spinal cord. I would think it
would be safe to assume--I am not a doctor, but if you want to send an
intact cadaver, that doesn't involve any research at all. Does it? They
don't have to cut anything. We will just ship that along. But it cost
$600. It doesn't have anything to do with what the service is in terms
of finding the spinal cord and getting it out. It has nothing to do
with it at all.
I will tell you why this is $600--the cadaver. Because when they get
the cadaver; they can get the spinal cord; they can get the eyes; they
can get the nose; they can get the ears; they can get the liver; they
can get the thyroid, whatever they want. That is why it is $600. That
is why the price list is there. You can even get a discount if you buy
enough.
This is a dirty business. It is bad. It stinks.
The brochure boasts that it offers researchers ``the highest quality,
most affordable and freshest tissue prepared to your specifications and
delivered in the quantities you need when you need it.''
Here is the copy of the brochure. I didn't make it up. This is their
brochure, Opening Lines. This is what they said.
Think about it. ``We are professionally staffed and directed,'' it
says. ``We have over 10 years of experience in harvesting tissue and
preservation. Our full-time medical director is active in all phases of
our operation. We are very pleased to provide you with our services.
Our goal is to offer you and your staff the highest quality, most
affordable, and freshest tissue prepared to your specifications.''
Please tell me how you can do that if it is simply a matter of taking
an aborted child and sending it off to a research laboratory somewhere.
My colleagues and American people, I don't know what is going to
happen to this country. But I just want to recap for you what has
happened here.
A woman comes into a clinic, an abortion clinic. She is pregnant. She
is in trouble. She needs help. They already have somebody who has read
her charts. They know her baby is normal. They know it has no abnormal
functions. They know they need to get that baby out of there quickly.
They know they can't do damage to the cadaver. They cannot do damage to
the fetus. They can't poison it. They can't cut it because, to their
specifications, they need perfect eyes, or they need perfect skin, or
good lungs, even the gonads, the ultimate. The poor little child just
has no privacy here. Limbs, brains, spinal, spleen, liver, all of it,
price list, all the way down--they have it all figured out.
And they have the gall to stand out here and tell you these clinics
care for the women. They care for the profit. They cannot make it
because abortions are going down. They can't charge these women any
more because they are too poor to pay. So they take it from their
bodies, from the children. It is a filthy, disgusting, dirty business,
and it needs to be exposed and eliminated.
How much more should we tolerate in this country? How much more
degradation must these children absorb and endure?
Look at that list. Look at it and tell me that is fee-for-service--to
your specifications, your specifications. You give us the order, and we
will make sure you get perfect eyes that weren't hurt by any
abortionist's knife, or they weren't poisoned by digoxin, or saline.
Oh, we will make sure. We will get you a live birth, if we have to, or
a partial birth, if we have to. We will get it for you because there is
a lot of money in it. That is why we will get it.
This is a filthy, disgusting, dirty business.
People say: Oh, you are antiresearch. I am not antiresearch. If a
woman has a miscarriage and wishes to donate that miscarried child to research, she has every right to do that. I am proresearch.
The Department of Health and Human Services under President Bush
determined there was plenty of tissue available through spontaneous
abortions and ectopic pregnancies to satisfy
research needs--plenty. But oh, no, we have to get into this. We have
to make up for the loss of revenue because, thank God, abortions are
starting to go down in this country. We have to make it up. Doctors
don't want to do them anymore. It is a dirty business, they say. I'm
sick when I go home. We are going down a slippery slope, my fellow
Americans.
I used to teach history. I used to tell my kids in those classes: If
you forget everything else I said, I want you to remember you have a
responsibility to pass on America to your children, hopefully in better
shape than we gave her to you. If you do that, America will always be
here; if you fail, we could lose it.
What message are we giving to our children when we tolerate this--an
order form before the woman even has the abortion.
Henry Hyde said: I deplore any medical procedure that treats human
beings as chattel, personal property, as a subject fit for harvesting.
The humanity of every fetus should be respected and treated with
dignity and not like some laboratory animal.
Is that dignity? Is that respect?
