University of Minnesota Accused of Illegally Buying Aborted Fetal Body Parts

The non-profit law firm Thomas More Society filed a petition against the University of Minnesota, for allegedly breaking the state law regulating the use of deceased embryos.

The complaint was filed Oct. 1 in the Fourth Judicial District of Minnesota in Hennepin county. 

The petition states the university, which receives taxpayer dollars, procured body parts from aborted fetuses in ways that violate the law. Minnesota law states that body parts from embryos may only be procured from natural causes such as from miscarriages or stillbirths.  

According to Live Action News, the petition further states that the university used the body parts for transplantation research, which they allege is a violation of the law that "limits fetal tissue testing to only allow determining parentage prior to burial, for purposes of a criminal investigation or for the health of the baby's mother or her future offspring."

According to a July report filed by a congressional panel on "The Transfer of Fetal Tissue and Related Matters," which is investigating alleged abuses by abortion providers such as Planned Parenthood and fetal procurement agencies such as StemExpress, Minnesota law requires fetal remains, whether "resulting from an abortion or miscarriage," to be disposed of "by cremation, interment by burial or in a manner directed by the commission of heatlh."

The panel's report further says that when the university no longer needed the body parts, they didn't follow the law and disposed of the fetal tissue as biohardardous waste. The report indicates that following disclosure of its practices, the university now disposes of the fetal remains in the same way as donated human cadavers.

According to Thomas More Society, the congressional panel report also accuses the University of Minnesota of blatant deceit.

"The university had initially denied to journalists that fetal tissue research occurred on campus, but after a news outlet uncovered receipts of fetal tissue purchases, its spokespeople reversed course and admitted that such research had taken place," they said.

Bridget Busacker, a graduate student at the university and petitioner in the case, said, "The actions that the university has taken in response to its use of fetal tissue for research is appalling and disappointing to me. I selected the University of Minnesota because of its reputation and determination to uphold standards that respect the community."

"I feel that the university has let me and my peers down – not to mention the school's fans, supporters, and Minnesota taxpayers. To promote our institution as driven to discover and then to defy the law in this way calls the integrity of the entire research program into question. How can we be world class if we are breaking the law?" Busacker said.