WASHINGTON — New York Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan praised a
decision by the U.S. secretary of the Department of Health and Human
Services to end a Food and Drug Administration contract with a company
“whose business is to procure aborted baby parts for research.”
After
this important “first step,” it “remains incumbent” on the Trump
administration “to act quickly to cease all funding for research
involving body parts from aborted babies,” Cardinal Dolan, the chairman
of the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities, wrote in a
statement Sept. 27.
The cardinal was referring to the Sept. 24
announcement by HHS Secretary Alex Azar that his agency was terminating
an FDA contract with Advanced Bioscience Resources in California to
provide human fetal tissue to develop testing protocols.
HHS also
stated it will do an audit of “all acquisitions involving human fetal
tissue” and “all research involving fetal tissue” to make sure the
statutes and regulations governing such research are being followed.
Such oversight, it said, also is necessary “in light of the serious
regulatory, moral and ethical considerations involved.”
Cardinal
Dolan, in his statement, wrote that “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,” he stated.
He also
stated the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and other pro-life
leaders and organizations also want answers to questions they asked of
Azar, he said, in a Sept. 11 letter “regarding the funding and use of
fetal tissue from aborted babies.”
The letter to Azar, signed by
more than 40 pro-life leaders, followed news reports about the FDA
signing the contract “to purchase ‘fresh’ aborted fetal organs from
Advanced Bioscience Resources, for the purpose of creating humanized
mice with human immune systems.”
The signers said they were
“shocked and dismayed” by this news. “We expect far better of our
federal agencies — especially under the leadership of a courageous
pro-life president — entrusted with the health of American citizens,”
they wrote.
They added: “It is completely unacceptable to discover
that the FDA is using federal tax dollars and fomenting demand for
human body parts taken from babies who are aborted.”
In his Sept.
27 statement, Cardinal Dolan stated: “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.”