Planned Parenthood has received a lot of public scrutiny lately. Even before the Center For Medical Progress released videos that revealed how intricately Planned Parenthood is involved in the trafficking of aborted baby parts, they were already the nation’s number one provider of abortions with a very troubling past.
President-elect Trump has promised to stop federal funding of Planned Parenthood, and Speaker of the House Paul Ryan said that effort is included in a critical reconciliation bill.
But Planned Parenthood isn’t the only entity deserving of losing its federal funds.
Last week we wrote about the Birth Defects Research Lab (BDRL) at the University of Washington and its refusal to cooperate with federal subpoenas.
Their refusal to cooperate with subpoenas or respond to public records requests means there are many things we do not know about the BDRL.
But the things we do know raise serious concerns about the wisdom of giving them federal tax dollars.
In response to the disturbing videos from the Center for Medical Progress, the House of Representatives created a Select Panel on Infant Lives to investigate whether baby body parts were being sold for a profit.
The Select Panel’s final report was released on December 30th.
Along with fifteen recommendations for criminal charges for Planned Parenthood and related entities, the Select Panel’s final report identified the BDRL at UW as the largest bank of aborted fetal tissue in America.
They have received aborted fetal tissue from thirteen different entities around the country (though all but one are in Washington State) and they have provided aborted fetal tissue to more than forty entities throughout the world.
They are also funded by federal tax dollars. In 2015, they received a $600,000 grant from the National Institute for Health to fund general operations.
In addition, the doctors who work at the Birth Defects Research Lab are also abortionists who perform abortions at some of the same abortion clinics that provide the BDRL with aborted fetal tissue. Others BDRL doctors have focused their research on abortion.
When the Select Panel subpoenaed documents from the BDRL, the documents they provided concealed much of the information the Panel was actually requesting. They described UW’s cooperation with their subpoena in this way:
“The invoices either do not specify what clinic services are involved or, when they apparently elaborate on the nature of such services, those elaborations are redacted—rendering it impossible for the Panel to conduct a forensic analysis of UW’s financial arrangements with clinics. UW’s incomplete production raises more questions than it answers and demonstrates the need for further investigation” [1]
Setting aside the nature of the work taking place at the BDRL, there is something people of every political persuasion should be able to agree upon.
Entities subject to public records laws that do not want the public to know what they are doing should not be funded by the taxpayers. If you want to do something privately, do not ask for public money to do it.
Regardless, there is simply no good reason tax dollars should ever be used to fund those who traffic in aborted baby parts.
The Hyde Amendment is a federal law prohibiting the use of federal funds for abortion. It is a recognition of the fact that hundreds of millions of Americans do not want their money being used to pay for abortions.
Since we have the decency to honor the Hyde Amendment, why would we require federal tax dollars to be used to fund the dissection of aborted babies?
But what about the lost opportunity to cure diseases? Significantly, the Select Panel’s Final Report noted that there is more than enough tissue from babies who die naturally through miscarriage to support all current research.
Selling the parts of aborted babies isn’t necessary for science and it isn’t something civilized people do. Moreover, entities that refuse to allow the public to inspect their activities should not be funded by the public.
Last week I was in Washington DC discussing the appropriateness of tax dollars being used to fund the BDRL and others who traffic in aborted body parts. For the most part, Congress was unaware that this was happening and they were universally unaware of how hard the BDRL is working to keep their publicly funded work from being seen by the public.
But when they learned, they were as concerned as you are.
While there is a great deal of sympathy, that will translate into action when the public demonstrates it matters to them. That’s why they need to hear from you on this issue.
To contact your U.S. Representative about this issue click here.
For contact information for your U.S. Senators click here.
Additionally, proposed just today in Olympia, House Bill 1243 would prohibit the sale, donation, or use of aborted fetal body parts in Washington State. Please contact your legislators here to share your thought on that legislation.
[1] Select Panel on Infant Lives Final Report pg. 259-260