To the Editor:
Let’s just acknowledge that having an abortion is not an easy decision and at times is done under desperate circumstances. I respect those people who are pro-life, but I venture to guess that they are not on the same page as those women needing to take care of themselves. This is not an issue about killing a baby. It is a decision about a woman’s right to have control of her body, even if she needs to make the difficult decision of abortion.
That being said, let’s move on to the subject of Planned Parenthood. Only 3 percent of all that Planned Parenthood does is about abortion.
Those horrific videos have already been shown to be doctored to show the worst.
Planned Parenthood does not sell fetal tissue. Only with the consent of the woman who has agreed to the abortion, is the fetal tissue given up for medical research.
“Human fetal cell strains, derived from voluntary abortions, have been extremely important for vaccine development, specifically for rabies, rubella, hepatitis A and chicken pox.” These words come from vaccine pioneer Stanley Plotkin of Philadelphia’s Wistar Institute. “Certain vaccines are so important to public health that even Catholic authorities see a moral imperative.”
Fetal cells have been key to historic breakthroughs, notably the polio vaccine. Due to their capacity to rapidly divide, grow and adapt to new environments, fetal cells hold unique promise.
At Stanford University, fetal tissue has been used to study Huntington’s disease.
Colorado State University is pressing ahead with its HIV research using fetal tissue. “Our position is this research has such tremendous value in driving discoveries that could be done no other way,” said Alan Rudolph, the university’s vice president of research.
Experts at MIT and other centers use fetal tissue to implant the human immune system into mice as a way to study diseases without employing people as test subjects.
Let’s stop politicizing this difficult decision.
Whereas the Republican Party wants less government in our lives, let’s make them aware that a woman’s right to have control of her body is between her and her doctor. Not easy, but not your concern.
