Ben Carson Defends Use of Fetal Tissue for Research

Former neurosurgeon Ben Carson is defending the use of fetal tissue for medical research.

"If you're killing babies and taking the tissue, that's a very different thing than taking a dead specimen and keeping a record of it," Dr. Carson told The Washington Post.

The neurosurgeon-turned-presidential candidate made the statement after a blog published sections of a 1992 paper, co-authored by Carson, which described research using aborted fetuses.

Carson told the Post the release of portions of the paper was "desperate" and ignorant of the way medical research was conducted.

"You have to look at the intent," he said before launching a campaign tour through New Hampshire. "To willfully ignore evidence that you have for some ideological reason is wrong."

Carson told the Post fetal tissue research should not be banned, and it was not immoral.

"When we obtain tissue like that, we want to know what the origin of that tissue is developmentally," he explained. "Knowing that helps us determine which patients are likely to develop a problem."

"It's one of the reasons why at the turn of the last century, the average age of death was 47," he said. "Now, the average age of death is 80. Using the information that you have is a smart thing, not a dumb thing."

Since last week's debate, Carson has risen in primary polls. He is one of the Republicans who've spoken out against Planned Parenthood after undercover videos showed organization executives talking about the extraction and distribution of tissue from aborted fetuses.

After the first videos surfaced, Carson in a July interview on Fox News said there was "nothing that can't be done without fetal tissue."

Dr. Jen Gunter released the 1992 paper.

"Could he think his own research was useless?" Gunter asked. "If it was non-contributory to the field, why was it published? Maybe he forgot that he'd done the research on fetal tissue?"

Carson said the previous fetal tissue research does not contradict his pro-life views.

Carson said he has not used fetal tissue samples since then.

"My primary responsibility in that research was when I operated on people and obtained the tissue," Carson said. "This has everything to do with how it's required."

Carson still favors de-funding Planned Parenthood but would not call for stopping fetal tissue research if the tissue was available.

"I may not be completely objective about Planned Parenthood because I know how they started with Margaret Sanger who believed in eugenics," he said. "But it would be good for the public to understand this whole aspect of medical research."