On Feb. 10, 2022, the House voted to approve H.B. 5558 and 5559 with a vote of 55 to 51 along party lines. The bills were then sent to the Senate Heath Policy committee for consideration. On Dec. 7, 2021, the House Judiciary committee took testimony on and voted the H.B. 5558 and 5559 out of committee. The House Health Policy Committee heard testimony on H.B. 5558 and 5559 on Dec. 1, 2021. Dr. Alan Moy of the John PaPaul II Medical Research Institute provided testimony via zoom in favor of the bills. Right to Life of Michigan submitted written testimony. On Dec. 2, 2021 H.B. 5558 and 5559 were voted out of Health Policy along party lines and were referred to the House Committee on Judiciary. On November 10, 2021, H.B. 5558 and H.B. 5559 were introduced and referred to the House Health Policy Committee.

Description

H.B. 5558 and 5559 would ban the use of aborted fetal tissue in research.

Background

With the Coronavirus pandemic and ensuing vaccines and vaccine mandates, many people are coming to learn for the first time the connection between abortion, fetal stem cells, and medical research. Many childhood vaccines are grown on aborted fetal cell lines that were established years ago. But, in addition to historic fetal cell lines, tissue and organs from aborted children are still used in experiments. Recently, it was discovered the National Institutes of Health had funded research on beagles, and people were outraged, yet aborted baby body parts are harvested, packed in ice, and sent to universities and research labs across the country on a daily basis for research. This type of research is unethical, unnecessary, and outdated. Newer forms of induced pluripotent adult stem cell research have been shown to be superior to fetal and embryonic stem cells. In addition, computer models and ethically derived cells from umbilical cord and placental cells are available.

History

Fetal tissue taken from the bodies of aborted children has been used in scientific research for decades. In 2015, the Center for Medical Progress released a series of undercover videos which displayed the widespread practice of trafficking baby body parts between Planned Parenthood and tissue procurement companies which made huge profits selling fetal organs and tissue. The Federal Government through the National Institutes of Health have funded research projects which utilized cells, tissue, and organs taken from the dismembered bodies of aborted babies. Horrific and Frankensteinian experimentation has been carried out in the name of science which includes attempting to grow fetal kidneys in the bodies of rats and grafting the tiny scalps of aborted babies onto the sides of lab mice. None of these horrific experiments has led to cures.

In 2016, the Michigan legislature banned fetal organ trafficking by prohibiting the exchange of money or other valuable considerations for “donated” fetal tissue. The Trump Administration restricted grant funding for research projects that use human fetal tissue; however, in April 2021, a mere 4 months after taking office, the Biden Administration reversed course and is now fully funding fetal tissue research with federal tax dollars.

On Dec. 30, 2016, the House Select Investigative Panel on Infant Lives released a 471-page report detailing the fetal tissue trafficking that had been taking place across the country. The report carefully detailed the grisly business arrangement between abortionists, tissue procurement companies, and researchers. The report made criminal referrals, recommended legislative changes, and offered scientific evidence to refute the claim that the use of aborted babies is “essential” to advance medical research stating: “Fetal tissue research has had ample time to prove itself clinically useful and has failed to do so. The evidence clearly indicates that fetal tissue research is outdated technology that is largely ignored by the clinical research enterprise because it has shown no benefit to patients.”