Project #4:
Why we need to defend fetal tissue research
Why we need to defend fetal tissue research
by: Sasha Afanasyeva
Vaccines, treatments for degenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s, Down syndrome, and even miscarriage are developed through fetal tissue research. Opponents of abortion are naturally against fetal tissue research and are pushing to try to stop it. Legislators should strive to defend fetal tissue research by opposing legislation attempting to ban or restrict it; the benefits of fetal tissue research gained through vaccine development and degenerative disease treatment investigation are simply too great to overlook and must be defended.
Planned Parenthood and the issue of fetal tissue research made headlines last summer when anti-abortion activists David Daleiden and Sandra Merritt released videos featuring Planned Parenthood employees talking about aborted fetal tissue donations taken during a sting operation. The videos resulted in an emotionally charged political storm with prominent Republican politicians such as Ted Cruz and Rand Paul calling for defunding Planned Parenthood, and states such as Wisconsin and Missouri are attempting to pass legislation to ban fetal tissue donations and research.
Some states are making an active push to outright ban fetal tissue donations. While it is illegal to sell fetal tissue, it is currently legal for a mother to choose to donate it. It is also legal to charge a small fee between $50 to $100 to cover transportation costs. Wisconsin’s Republican-dominated legislature is currently pushing for a complete ban on such fetal tissue donations, including its use in research.
Due to the emotionally and politically charged nature of abortion and fetal tissue research, many scientists are choosing to stay silent about defending fetal tissue research, something that a December Nature editorial, which ironically was written anonymously, discussed. “US scientists who use fetal tissue are choosing to stay silent about the value of their work rather than to defend it publicly and face the real possibility of physical attack,” the editorial said. When in November, a gunman attacked a Planned Parenthood clinic and killed 3 people, injuring 9, calling himself “a warrior for the babies,” concerns for safety were further raised for researchers and Planned Parenthood employees alike.
The Association of American Medical Colleges released a statement signed by more than 58 medical colleges and medical organizations highlighting the medical benefits of fetal tissue research and urging lawmakers to reject proposals that would restrict access to fetal tissue research. According to Nature, the AAMC statement allowed medical professionals and scientists to speak out on the issue without having their personal name attached. In the editorial, Nature said that they shared the AAMC’s concerns and joined the AAMC in asking US lawmakers to reject such proposals. “The current episode is a reflection of a larger politics of division that has taken hold in the United States, and which has worsened alarmingly in recent months. It is time for a de-escalation of the rhetoric and the creation of a space for calm and rational discourse,” Nature wrote.
Alto Charo, a bioethicist from University of Wisconsin-Madison, spoke out against Wisconsin’s current attempt to ban fetal tissue research and donations. “No embryo or fetus is going to be lost because of the research,” said Charo. “Research needs to be regulated to protect public health and safety, but this is very different,” she says. “This is shutting down research for purely moral purposes—it’s shutting down research because people disapprove.”
In the AAMC release, the US Department of Health and Human Services was quoted as saying that “fetal tissue continues to be a critical resource for important efforts such as research on degenerative eye disease, human development disorders such as Down syndrome, and infectious diseases, among a host of other diseases.” A WebMD article from September interviewed Anita Bhattacharyya, from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Jorge Busciglio from the University of California-Irvine, about the use of fetal tissue in research. The work of the two researchers relies on access to fetal tissue.
When it came to Down syndrome and Alzheimer’s disease, the researchers said that animal studies are not possible due to the way the human brain is different. “For Down syndrome specifically, animals aren’t very good, because their brains and chromosomes are so different from humans”, Bhattacharyya said. Busciglio who studies human cortical neurons, a type of brain cell affected in Down syndrome and Alzheimer’s disease, said that fetal tissue is necessary for such research. “It’s really critical to do some of these experiments in these types of cells,” Busciglio said. “If we don’t have these cells, we don’t have our answer.”
Although Busciglio’s and Bhattacharyya’s work highlights some of the current research going on, previous uses of fetal tissue also included the development of life-saving vaccines. In the statement, the AAMC said “In the past, human fetal tissue research has been critical in establishing permanent cell lines for use in vaccine research for diseases such as polio, hepatitis A, measles, mumps, rubella, chickenpox, and rabies. These established cell lines are currently being used to develop an Ebola vaccine.”
Opponents to fetal tissue research such as Marco Rubio, a Republican US senator from Florida, said that fetal tissue research has “created an incentive for people to be pushed into abortions so that those tissues can be harvested and sold for a profit.” The AAMC stressed in its report that the ability to donate fetal tissue for research is not linked to an increase in abortions practiced. “Nor can we reasonably expect a limitation on fetal tissue donation or research to reduce the number of abortions,” the AAMC said. “Rather, it will prevent the use of tissue that would otherwise be destroyed, hindering efforts to better understand, diagnose, and treat diseases.”
The Nature editorial noted that fetal tissue donation for research is already rare, with only 1 percent of about 700 Planned Parenthood clinics even participating in tissue donation. Given the political climate, Nature expects that number to go down further. With Wisconsin’s Republican-dominated legislature attempting to ban fetal tissue donations, there is growing concern that other states may do so too, thus eliminating all access to fetal tissue for researchers. The Hill reported in September that the number of Planned Parenthood clinics that allow women to donate fetal tissue went down from six to two, pointing to the political climate as the primary cause.
Should fetal research be banned or restricted, the medical and scientific community is worried that the loss of medical advances can be significant. Given the political climate, researchers fear for their safety for speaking out in defense of fetal tissue; a fear that was reinforced during the November Planned Parenthood shootings. The only way to ensure that scientists can continue their lifesaving work is for legislators to step up and vote down any bills attempting to ban or restrict fetal tissue research. The AAMC ended its report by saying that “as physicians and scientists, we work every day to save and improve lives. We urge lawmakers to support our ability to continue this important work by rejecting any proposals that restrict access to fetal tissue for research that has the potential to save countless lives.”
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On the net:
Washington Post:
Nature Editorial:
The Atlantic:
WebMD interview:
NPR coverage:
AAMC Statement: https://www.aamc.org/download/444248/data/statementinsupportoffetaltissueresearch.pdf
Wisconsin’s new bill:
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