FDA Trafficking Aborted Fetal Body Parts

Justin Haggerty | The Daily Knight

On par with Communist China's $1billion/yr industry of harvesting organs from political and religious prisoners, the FDA established an extensive trafficking operations of aborted fetal body parts under the Obama administration. Millions of dollars were spent on "fresh, shipped wet on ice" fetal tissues, livers, thymuses, and even skulls.

The following text is from Judicial Watch's weekly update with Tom Fitton.

Judicial Watch has uncovered more documents detailing the evil activities of your federal government – the trafficking of the remains of unborn human beings killed by abortion.

We received another 198 pages of records and communications from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) involving “humanized mice” research with human fetal heads, organs and tissue, including communications and contracts with human fetal tissue provider Advanced Bioscience Resources (ABR).

Most of the records are communications and related attachments between Perrin Larton, a procurement manager for ABR, and research veterinary medical officer Dr. Kristina Howard of the FDA.

We received the records through a March 2019 FOIA lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, of which the FDA is a part (Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department Health and Human Services (No. 1:19-cv-00876)).

Our lawsuit asks for all contracts and related documentation on disbursement of funds, procedural documents and communications between FDA and ABR for the provision of human fetal tissue to be used in humanized mice research. After we successfully opposed the FDA’s redaction of certain information from its records, a federal court ordered HHS to release additional information about its purchases of organs harvested from aborted human fetuses – including “line item prices,” or the price per organ the government paid to ABR. The court also found “there is reason to question” whether the transactions violate federal law barring the sale of fetal organs. Documents previously uncovered in this lawsuit show that the federal government demanded the purchased fetal organs be “fresh and never frozen.”)

The records include an FDA generated contract with ABR, based on a “requisition” it issued on July 27, 2012, for $12,000 worth of “tissue procurement for humanized mice,” which indicates the requisition was for a “non-competitive award.” Although the initial award was for $12,000, the total estimated amount of funds allocated for the requisition was $60,000. Under “Justification for Other than Full and Open Competition,” the FDA writes:

Scientists within the FDA and in the larger field of humanized mouse research have searched extensively over the past several years, and ABR is the only company in the U.S. capable of supplying tissues suitable for HM research. No other company or organization is capable of fulfilling the need.

***

Costs are estimated [for the fetal parts] at $230 per tissue x two tissues per shipment = $460 plus $95 shipping = $555 per shipment. A total of 21 shipments = $11,655.00.

An April 1, 2013, “Amendment of Solicitation/Modification of Contract” form that shows the FDA purchased fetal livers and thymuses from ABR going back to at least October 2012, billing $580 per liver/thymus set, but later paying a unit price of $685.

A January 1, 2013, “Fees for Services Schedule” provided by ABR to the FDA includes:

FETAL CADAVEROUS PROCUREMENT SERVICE FEE

2nd trimester D&E [Dilation and Evacuation abortion] (13-24 weeks) per specimen $275

1st trimester aspiration [abortion] (8-12 weeks) per specimen $515

Intact Calvarium [baby’s skull] (8-24 weeks)” per specimen $515

The fees for services schedule also includes “Special Processing/Preservation” of the fetal parts, such as “Tissue ‘Cleaning,’” “Snap freezing,” and “Passive freezing (Dry ice).”

In a September 9, 2014, “Order for Supplies or Services,” the FDA writes regarding a $9,900 order:

The Contractors shall ship 2nd Trimester thymus $325, 2nd Trimester liver $325. Overnight deliver $150 and EFT wire transfer fee $25, for a total per delivery of $825. Total of this contract not to exceed $9,900.00.

As the result of an August 21, 2015, “Amendment of Solicitation/Modification of Contract,” ABR bumped up the price of baby livers and thymuses from $325 each to $340 each.

A “Tissue Acquisition Quote” sent by ABR to Howard on July 5, 2017, provided a quote of $5,440 each to provide 16 sets of second trimester (16-24 weeks) livers and 16 sets of second trimester (16-24 weeks) thymuses at $340 per “sample.” The request for the quote notes that “tissue known to be positive for HIV, HepA, HepB, HepC or chromosomal abnormalities are not acceptable.”

On June 28, 2017, a redacted FDA contract specialist sends Larton at ABR a request for a quote (RFQ) of pricing for human fetal tissue, aged “16-24 weeks,” including a “Statement of Needs”:

The HM [humanized mice] are created by surgical implantations of human tissue into mice that have multiple genetic mutations that block the development of the mouse immune system at a very early stage. The absence of the mouse immune system allows the human tissues to grow and develop into functional human tissues…. In order for the humanization to proceed correctly we need to obtain fetal tissue with a specific set of specialized characteristics.

A May 2018, report from a company named “LABS,” which was employed by ABR to test fetal parts and their mothers for hepatitis and HIV, notes in its “methodology description” that they are approved by the FDA “for living and cadaveric donor screening.”

The records include a recitation of requirements by the FDA for “Payment by Electronic Funds Transfer,” in which ABR must adhere to regulations relating to “Convict Labor” and “Child Labor-Cooperation with Authorities and Remedies.”

On September 24, 2018, the Trump FDA terminated its contract with ABR for human tissue purchases and began an audit of its acquisitions of baby body parts. The records include the FDA’s letter terminating the contract:

Based on the terms and conditions of the Purchase Order as awarded to Advanced Bioscience Resources, Inc. (“ABR”) on July 27, 2018, the Government is not sufficiently assured that the human tissue provided to the Government to humanize the immune systems of mice will comply with the prohibitions set forth under 42 U.S.C. § 289g- 2. Furthermore, the Government has concerns with the sufficiency of the sole-source justification. Therefore, pursuant to FAR [Federal Acquisition Regulation] clause 52.213-4(f), the Purchase Order is being terminated effective September 24, 2018.

Here’s some background.

In February 2020, we first uncovered through this lawsuit hundreds of pages of records from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) showing that the agency paid thousands of dollars to a California-based firm to purchase organs from aborted human fetuses to create “humanized mice” for HIV research.

In May 2021, this lawsuit uncovered FDA records showing the agency spent tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars to buy human fetal tissue from ABR. The tissue was used in creating “humanized mice” to test “biologic drug products.” The records indicated the FDA wanted tissue purchases “Fresh; shipped on wet ice.”

On August 3, 2021, we announced that The Center for Medical Progress (CMP) and Judicial Watch, through a separate lawsuit, received 252 pages of new documents from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that reveal nearly $3 million in federal funds were spent on the University of Pittsburgh’s quest to become a “Tissue Hub” for human fetal tissue ranging from 6 to 42 weeks’ gestation. The Pitt scientists note that, “All fetal tissue is collected through a collaborative process including Family Planning, Obstetrics and Pathology.” Pitt anticipated “being able to harvest and distribute quality tissue and cells … [and] do not anticipate any major problems related to the acquisition and distribution of the tissues.” Pitt’s target goal “is to have available a minimum of 5 cases (tissues and if possible other biologicals) per week of gestational age for ages 6-42 weeks.”

Chopping up aborted human beings for their organs and tissue is a moral and legal outrage. This issue should be front and center in any debate about America’s barbaric abortion industry.

Life Legal follows the money trail to EXPOSE PP

Following text is from the Life Legal Defense Foundation.

Almost three years ago, the Center for Medical Progress released videos of its undercover investigation revealing the abortion industry’s practice of criminal fetal tissue trafficking. Multiple abortionists were caught on camera describing how they could be paid for body parts and how to change the abortion procedure to obtain more intact body parts that could be sold for premium prices.

The videos caused such public outrage that the U.S. House of Representatives created a special investigative panel to dig into the facts of how abortion providers were violating or evading federal and state laws. After holding multiple hearings, interviewing dozens of witnesses, and subpoenaing tens of thousands of pages of documents, the House Select Panel on Infant Lives issued a final report concluding that universities, for-profit tissue procurement companies, and abortion clinics had all played a part in illegal fetal tissue trafficking.

Some of these entities were more forthcoming to the Panel’s subpoenas than others. Planned Parenthood and its affiliates played cat-and-mouse with the committee until the clock ran out. Rather than providing

contemporaneous accounting documents showing its costs and revenues related to fetal tissue, it relied on summaries and “back-of-the-envelope” calculations in responding to subpoenas, all the while complaining to obliging media outlets that the Panel was engaged in a witch hunt.

Two days after CMP released its first undercover video, Planned Parenthood’s then-president, Cecile Richards, released a video statement in which she said, in part, “I want to be really clear: the allegation that Planned Parenthood profits in any way from tissue donation is not true. Our donation programs – like any other high-quality health-care provider’s – follows all laws and ethical guidelines.”

The Panel’s Final Report, however, found otherwise:

“We didn’t profit because we say we didn’t profit’ is not compliance with congressional requests for documents.”

Because Planned Parenthood refused to provide actual documents supporting their claim, the Panel resorted to analyzing accounting documents from middlemen companies who contracted with Planned Parenthood affiliates.

In those documents, the Panel traced the path of money flowing into Planned Parenthood affiliates as baby parts flowed out.

Life Legal attorneys have been building on the Panel’s findings. In two days—on July 19—Magistrate Judge Donna Ryu will decide whether Planned Parenthood must respond to Life Legal’s specific questions about their compliance with federal laws prohibiting profiting from fetal tissue.

“The Select Panel’s findings provided a road map for the discovery we needed to demonstrate that Planned Parenthood was violating federal law and making money from the sale of aborted fetal tissue,” said Life Legal Vice President of Legal Affairs Katie Short. “I followed that roadmap, and soon Planned Parenthood was trying to take off cross-country.”

When Planned Parenthood sued The Center for Medical Progress in January 2016, its initial press release stated, “The claims made by the people behind the videos are fiction. . . . They are purposely deceptive . . . They are maliciously edited . . . Just so we’re clear: Planned Parenthood doesn’t sell fetal tissue.”

Planned Parenthood has touted this mantra for almost three years, but now that Life Legal is forcing them to prove that they didn’t profit from baby body parts, Planned Parenthood is desperately trying to change the subject. Suddenly, Planned Parenthood is complaining that the federal tissue trafficking statute is just a “technical law” and that Planned Parenthood’s compliance with the law is irrelevant and “not what the CMP’s videos were about.” That would come as a surprise to the tens of thousands of citizens who demanded investigation and action from Congress. And it flies in the face of the Select Panel’s findings, which have led to numerous referrals for criminal prosecution for the sale of body parts.

The question is no longer whether Planned Parenthood sold fetal tissue: it did. The only question is whether, in the face of the evidence, the abortion giant will be allowed to continue proclaiming that it never violated federal law.

In Christ Crucified and the Most Victorious Heart of Jesus.