Scientists depend on human body parts for research. But until recently most people didn't know how they obtain the fetal body parts they use for their research. The investigative story that has broken in the media began when a woman approached Life Dynamics in Denton, Texas about the traffic of fetal body parts. That was back in 1997, and only now has the story been released to the press after extensive investigation.
I've had the opportunity to look at the material, and believe me it is chilling. There are brochures, protocols, and price lists that document the interstate commerce of fetal body parts. One brochure touts "the freshest tissue available." A price list provides a grim picture of the trafficking in cannibalized body parts: eyes are $50 to $75 depending on the age of the fetus, skin is $100, a spinal cord is $325.
And the investigation provides new insight into why the fight against partial birth abortion has been so tough. Partial birth abortion, after all, is a difficult procedure that involves turning the fetus in womb and removing it feet first. This complicates the abortion and therefore poses more risk to the mother. So why do abortionists do it? Fetal tissue parts. If you want an intact brain, spinal cord, or limbs, partial birth abortion will provide that in ways that other abortion techniques will not.
Life Dynamics has done the pro-life community as well as the rest of society a service. Its two-year investigation clearly documents what many of us suspected all along. The fight against partial birth abortion was so tough because a lot of money and fetal tissue was a stake. This procedure has little to do with providing women with choice and everything to do with the interstate trafficking of fetal body parts.
I'm Kerby Anderson of Probe Ministries, and that's my opinion.