Foetal Remains

Trading the Body Parts of Aborted Foetuses Abortion clinics throughout the western world usually contract medical waste disposal companies to remove and incinerate the dead foetuses.

Some clinics in the United States specialising in late-term abortions, have their own on-site crematoriums.

But as medical science seeks cures to treat diabetes, spinal cord injury, blindness, leukemia, Parkinsons and Alzheimers, foetal tissue is in huge demand for the billion-dollar business of transplant research.

A symbiotic relationship exists between the abortion clinics and the wholesalers trading foetal body parts to medical laboratories.

Many of these clinics have dedicated rooms set aside, so that the foetuses can be dissected immediately after the abortion. A premium is placed on freshness and rapid delivery.

Those involved in the supply chain to the bio-technology laboratories rationalise that although the foetuses were unwanted, much good can be salvaged from their deaths if they contribute to medical discoveries that might cure diseases and save other lives.

An insider's account of the trade
The idea of cannibalising the body parts of aborted foetuses is controversial, and therefore the trade is understandably discreet.

Mark Crutcher, is the president of Life Dynamics, a dedicated 'anti-abortion' organisation based in Denton, Texas. Crutcher relentlessly targets abortion clinics and doctors with malpractice lawsuits. He had long been aware of the foetal parts trade, but lacked "inside" knowledge that could be documented.

In 1997, a laboratory technician was working in an abortion clinic, when a doctor walked into the lab and deposited two 24-week old twin foetuses he had just aborted. The twins were still moving and the technician protested that it wasn't in her contract to kill them. The doctor quickly filled the steel pan with water and drowned the twins.

The Alberta Report of August 23, 1999, carried the story entitled "Secrets of the Dead Baby Industry" by Celeste McGovern.

The technician, who used the pseudonym "Kelly", wore a wig, had her back to the camera and her voice electronically modified to disguise her identity. She said she feared for her life. 'Kelly' worked at a Planned Parenthood clinic that was also a member of the National Abortion Federation. Her job was to procure fetal tissue for research.

"Kelly" explained that the Planned Parenthood clinic she worked in, received a service fee from the Anatomic Gift Foundation for its tissue "donations." Kelly worked for a Maryland company called the Anatomic Gift Foundation, "We were never employees of the abortion clinic, we had a contract that would allow us to procure foetal tissue for research."

"We received 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 patient charts, so that we could screen out anyone who had STDs or foetal 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% of foetuses were ruled out for anomalies."

Foetuses ranged in age from seven weeks to 30 weeks and beyond. Usually Kelly harvested tissue from 30 to 40 late-term foetuses each week. "We took eyes, livers, brains, thymuses and especially cardiac blood."

Researchers used their own shipping firms: UPS, FedEx or a special courier. "We would take it in a box and put it on as regular cargo. Sometimes it would be an intact foetus, or it might be a batch of eyes, or 40 to 50 livers, or thymuses, going out that day. Whatever it was, there were mass quantities of it going out."

Request Forms
Life Dynamics obtained dozens of order forms for foetal parts from researchers all over the United States. They contain names of researchers, universities and pharmaceutical companies, day and evening telephone numbers, courier account numbers, the type of tissue requested, the preferred gestational stage of the foetus and other details.

A sample from a scientist studying the "Biochemical Characterization of human type X Collagen," requests "Whole intact leg, include entire hip joint, 22-24 weeks gest." The extractor is directed to "dissect by cutting through symphasis pubis and include whole Illium (hip joint). To be removed from fetal cadaver within 10 minutes."

One order form carries the name of the University of British Columbia's Dr Vanugram Venkatesh alongside a request for an international FedEx shipment of "16-24 weeks lungs (trachea not required)" to study "molecular mechanisms of fluid reabsorption in human fetal lung." "Significance: Respiratory Distress Syndrome, a major cause of death in premature infants."

In their video interview with Kelly, Life Dynamics ask Kelly if abortionists at the clinic ever deliberately altered procedure to procure tissue. "Yes," she replied, "All the limbs, the arms, the head, the chest cavity were never invaded. They were all completely intact. Sometimes the foetus appeared to be dead, but when you would open up the chest cavity you would see the heart beating." (You can listen to the heartbeat by clicking here) (Requires Windows Media Player)

The clinic used the partial-birth abortion technique for later pregnancies: the doctor grasp hold of a foetal leg with tongs and pulls the entire body, except for the head, feet-first and face-down out of the mother. Then he punctures the base of the skull with scissors, inserts a cannula to suck out the brain, and slides the head out. It is a three-day procedure requiring that women be inserted with laminaria, seaweed cervix dilators, beforehand.

Evidence for the demand for late-term foetal tissue can be corroborated apart from Life Dynamics. The National Institutes for Health operates a Laboratory for Embryology at the University of Seattle that runs a 24-hour collection service at abortion clinics.

An advertisement in the March 1994 NIH Guide is to be found on the Internet, offering to "supply tissue from normal or abnormal embryos and fetuses of desired gestational ages between 40 days and term. Specimens are obtained within minutes of passage and immediately processed according to the requirements of individual investigators. Specimens are shipped by overnight express."

The wholesalers and price lists
A full-colour brochure invites abortion providers to "find out how you can turn your patient's decision into something wonderful." It is printed by Opening Lines, A Division of Consultative and Diagnostic Pathology, a wholesale trader in foetal parts.

Opening Lines was founded in 1989 to "maximise the utilization of fresh fetal tissue we process." Researchers are offered: "the highest quality, most affordable, and freshest tissue, prepared to your specifications and delivered in the quantities you need when you need it." Source: Interlife.org 

Response from the Abortion Industry
In response to information released by Life Dynamics, on March 8, 2000, the ABC News program 20/20 aired a segment about the marketing of baby parts from children killed during abortions. On the following day there was a Congressional hearing on the same issue.

Abortion opponents Life Dynamics repeatedly warned the Congressional Committee staff that using their abortion industry infiltrator, Dean Alberty, as the centerpiece of the hearing was courting disaster. They pointed out that the hearing should focus on the documentation not Alberty.

Because Alberty was supposedly "pro-choice," and yet was still willing to spy for Life Dynamics, they considered that he was basically a dishonest and untrustworthy individual.

They pointed out that although they used the information Alberty gave them to point them in a certain direction, they did not rely on anything he told them unless they had documentation or independent verification. 

Representatives of the abortion industry made certain claims related to the issues raised during the hearing.

• It was claimed that Dean Alberty was paid $20,000 by Life Dynamics for the "Kelly" interview.

At the hearing, Alberty testified under oath that he was actually paid only $400 to compensate him for the time he spent traveling to Texas, conducting the interview, and returning home. Over a two-and-a-half year period Alberty was paid $21,426.04, which averaged less than $310 per month. The majority of the money paid to him was reimbursement for actual expenses he incurred while attending abortion industry conferences and seminars on behalf of Life Dynamics. This included airline tickets, hotels, food, registration fees, association dues, tapes and books, etc.

• It was claimed that Alberty subsequently accused Life Dynamics of altering the "Kelly" interview.

When Alberty first saw the tape, almost a year after it was recorded, he stated that since he did not remember the entire interview, he couldn't state for sure whether Life Dynamics altered it or not. He wasn't sure one way or another. Life Dynamics has released the raw unedited footage of the original interview showing that absolutely no such alterations occurred.

• It was claimed that Alberty recanted his testimony in the "Kelly" interview.

He only admitted that he had no personal knowledge of, and could not prove that some of the things he told Life Dynamics were true. However, "almost all the allegations," he said, "he could no longer stand behind with certainty," were actually proven by written documentation provided by Life Dynamics.

The truth is that in each circumstance where Alberty admitted that he lied to Life Dynamics, the allegation he was making was supported through other witnesses, evidence or documentation. It should also be noted that Alberty stood firm behind other claims he had previously made. For example, "even under a brutal assault by Committee pro-aborts, he never wavered in his statement that living children who had survived their abortions - including the twins he described in the "Kelly" interview-were sometimes brought to him to be chopped up for parts."

• It was claimed that the documents used to support the claim that baby parts are being marketed, were stolen by burglars working for Life Dynamics.

Life Dynamics denied the claim and said that every single document in question was provided to Life Dynamics by Alberty and other whistle-blowers employed in the abortion industry.

• It was claimed that the baby parts broker featured in the 20/20 piece, was in reality an actor hired by Life Dynamics to appear in the 20/20 broadcast.

Life Dynamics pointed out that this claim is totally preposterous because, if true, it implies that, not only was ABC New stupid enough to fall for it, the US Congress would have had to be stupid enough to issue a subpoena for someone who didn't exist and the Federal Marshals Office would have to be stupid enough to report that they had served a subpoena to someone who didn't exist.

• It was claimed that House Commerce Committee staffers said that the hearing failed partially because Life Dynamics didn't turn over all the documents it promised to them.

Life Dynamics points out that they had been working to get a hearing since the day the project commenced. It would hardly have worked in their interests to without relevant documents that would have supported their case. They claim that, on the contrary, not only did they turn over every thing they had, but also spent dozens of hours going over the documents with Committee staffers. And since none of the documents were used in the hearing, they ask, "how credible is this bizarre self-serving claim they didn't have enough of them?"

The full story about the 20/20 programme and the committee hearing can be read HERE.

Read quotes from those in the abortion industry.