Republicans called for an overhaul to a 37-year-old report that has governed the basic ethical principles of medical research, as scrutiny grows of the use of fetal tissue in research.
The Belmont report, released in 1979, was questioned during the first hearing of the House Select Investigative Panel on Infant Lives. The questioning coincided with skepticism among Republicans on the need for fetuses for research.
“This whole issue needs to be revisited, said Rep. Diane Black, R-Tenn. “Rather than going back to a blue ribbon commission done 30 years ago, that may be one of the recommendations we have.”
The Belmont report has guided medical research projects for decades. It developed three basic ethical principles: Respect the people in the trial, do no harm, and serve justice if something goes wrong.
However, lawmakers questioned whether the protections were enough for mothers who sign informed consent for their aborted fetal tissue to be donated for research.
Republicans pointed to a form obtained by the committee that is given to women to get them to consent to donating blood and fetal tissue from an aborted baby. They point to one part of the form that said research using such tissue or blood “has been used to treat and find a cure for such diseases as diabetes, Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, cancer and AIDS.”
Republicans also pointed to a part of the Belmont report that said a person can’t be coerced or improperly influenced to give consent, saying that the untrue statements that the tissue has led to cures for such ailments was coercion.
The statement on the form, identifying information on which was redacted, was inappropriate, said Larry Goldstein, a cellular and molecular sciences professor at University of California-San Diego.
Democrats responded that women still should have the right to consent to donate their aborted fetal tissue for research if they choose to do so.
“To say that a woman disagrees with your moral view, therefore we should take away her moral right to make the choice on a donation of fetal tissue, is an assertion of absolute moral arrogance,” said Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y.
He added that there is no evidence that any donations of fetal tissue were coerced.
One witness at the hearing was dismayed at the discussion on medical research.
“I am very unhappy at seeing a debate around abortion turn into a debate around scientific research,” said R. Alta Charo, a bioethics professor at the University of Wisconsin.
Republicans fought back that they are not against fetal tissue research, but that where the fetal tissue comes from is a problem.
“We are talking specifically about induced abortions,” said Rep. Andy Harris, R-Md. “Fetal tissue ethically obtained is absolutely appropriate.”
