Abortion Opponents, Medical Researchers Pack Hearing On Fetal Tissue Bill

Abortion opponents and medical researchers packed a public hearing Tuesday to testify on a bill banning the sale and use of aborted fetal tissue.

Republican Rep. Andre Jacque, the author of the bill, has introduced similar legislation ever since he arrived in the Legislature. He said he only wants to prevent the sale and use of aborted fetal tissue, and contends that researchers could still use other fetal tissue.

“If a mother suffers a miscarriage, or her baby is stillborn or dies during any non-abortive medical procedure and she wishes to donate her child’s body to research, such decisions would be perfectly legal and consistent with current practice,” said Jacque.

Law in four other states banning experimentation on fetal tissue have been found unconstitutionally vague. Federal law already prevents the sale of fetal tissue and regulates use of it.

Jacque said he will revise his bill with an amendment that would allow use of existing cell lines derived from aborted fetuses before 2010. But Robert Golden, the dean of the University of Wisconsin Medical College, said that 100 labs on campus use fetal cells, and that alternative methods aren’t feasible at this time.

“This proposed law, in its current form and even with the amendments, to the extent that they have been shared with our university, will shut down promising lines of research in Wisconsin. It will cut off work in our state on diseases that cripple and kill,” said Golden.

A trade group for bioscience called Bio Forward opposes the bill, as does the Medical College of Wisconsin and the Wisconsin Medical Society.

Correction: The photo caption for this story originally said that the man in the image was Robert Golden. The man depicted is actually Bishop Robert Morlino.