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University of Nebraska's use of aborted fetus cells provokes debate

LINCOLN, Neb. - The recent findings revealing the University of Nebraska's involvement in the use of aborted fetuses for medical research is stirring up the abortion debate.

On Sunday, the Omaha World-Herald reported that the University of Nebraska Medical Center used brain cells of aborted fetuses in the study of Alzheimer's disease.

The fetal tissue was provided free of charge to the university by Dr. LeRoy Carhart. Federal law prohibits the sale of any human body parts.

Carhart operates an abortion clinic in Bellevue and has been a leader in the pro-abortion rights movement.

Gov. Mike Johanns will prepare a letter asking the University of Nebraska to stop the research, said Chris Peterson, spokesman for the governor.

"The governor hopes at minimum to establish dialogue between the university, the regents, the Legislature and himself on the future of the research," Peterson said. "He will formally ask (the university) to stop later on this week."

Anti-abortion rights activists see the research as a victory for abortion, while pro-abortion rights supporters don't see the research as an issue at all.

Anti-abortion groups have been talking to state senators about the possibility of stopping the testing, said Dan Parsons, director of Family First in Lincoln and an anti-abortion rights activist.

"It's very disturbing to think that people are harvesting organs of unborn children for medical research," he said. "We've wondered aloud if this were going on in Nebraska, and it deeply troubles us to know that it is."

Chris Funk, executive director of Planned Parenthood of Lincoln and pro-abortion rights supporter, said her organization approves of the university's actions.

"We support the right of women to donate fetal tissue, and we support medical research to help fight debilitating diseases," she said. "As long as the tissue is not sold, there is no incentive to have abortions. It's just like any other organ donation."

Parsons said the research could fuel incentive for doctors to create a black market for fetal tissue.

"It would not surprise me at all if someone who aborts babies for a living would try to sell baby parts," he said. "Some organizations have been known to lease office space or provide overhead payments in return for fetal tissue."

Funk said Parson's comments were frivolous.

"People are getting the impression that fetal tissue is being sold, and it is not," she said. "We're totally against the sale of human body parts for any reason. Women must present information and written consent to donate tissue. It's completely up to the woman."

Funk said she was appalled that radical anti-abortion rights activists were using the research issue as a means for further debates on abortion.

"It is really outrageous that anti-abortion extremists are trying to intertwine abortion with medical research," she said. "It's outrageous that they look for any place to make a scene. This is a scene that doesn't need to be a platform for them to stomp around on."

Parsons said the research issue is more than another abortion debate - it is a public policy question that must be answered.

"Science is encouraging abortions," he said. "Anyone who has any sense of what is right or wrong should see that this is something that our culture shouldn't be doing."