A lack of fetal tissue research could hurt scientists’ efforts to study the spreading Zika virus, according to a scientist who testified during a House hearing on fetal tissue research and abortion.
The Zika virus has spread to more than 30 countries and territories and is responsible for more than 150 cases in the U.S. Scientists are scrambling to confirm a link between the mosquito-borne virus and a birth defect called microcephaly.
“Right now we are struggling to understand how the Zika virus operates, how it can be transmitted through the placenta to the fetus,” said R. Alta Charo, professor of law and bioethics at the University of Wisconsin.
“For that we need to actually look at the tissue available after every stage of gestation where the re has been a termination of pregnancy through miscarriage or elective abortion,” Charo added, referring to pregnancies ended due to the Zika virus.
Charo spoke Wednesday during the House Select Investigative Panel on Planned Parenthood, with the hearing focusing on the ethics of fetal tissue research.
Charo said to study Zika virus, scientists must examine fetal tissues of babies miscarried because of the Zika virus.
Zika’s potential link to the birth defect microcephaly, which causes babies to be born with abnormally small heads and causes brain damage, only emerged during the outbreak that started last year in central and South America.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a travel warning for pregnant women and women of childbearing age after discovering Zika in the fetal tissue of babies who died from microcephaly.
Republicans on the panel noted that a series of undercover videos into Planned Parenthood’s harvesting of aborted fetal body parts requires an investigation into fetal tissue research, especially on how fetal tissue is procured and whether such a practice is ethical.
“This is not litigating fetal tissue research. We all agree it should be done,” said Rep. Andy Harris, R-Md.
