The University of Washington School of Medicine is reportedly keeping aborted human fetuses and organs in rows of labeled boxes and paper bags in a walk-in freezer.
The grim discovery was made earlier this month by the Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising, a left-wing organization, alongside members of several other anti-abortion groups that located the freezer at the university‘s Birth Defects Research Laboratory.
The activists found the freezer by following a paper trail of invoices that recorded the purchase of various fetal body parts by universities and research labs across the country.
NOEM BANS TELEMEDICINE ABORTION AND TARGETS ATTEMPTS TO COERCE PROCEDURE
Images of the inside of the freezer, with rows of paper bags and boxes, were shared on Twitter by PAAU, which claimed that the university maintained “the largest and most active fetal organ bank in the nation.”
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Pro-Life Groups Discover Freezer of Human Fetuses at the University of WashingtonOn March 9th at 6:30pm, Anti-Abortion activists from groups including PAAU, @TheSurvivors , @prolifesf, & @RehumanizeIntl gained access to the largest & pic.twitter.com/CQM4Sakuri
— PAAU (@PAAUNOW) March 24, 2022
“The American people must be made aware of the mass dehumanization of these unborn children who are violently killed and thrown into a freezer, whose body parts are then portioned out to researchers in pursuit of federal funding,” PAAU Executive Director Terrisa Bukovinac said. “It is my hope that this photograph reminds us all that there are real victims being lethally oppressed by UW and traded like property. Fetal trafficking is abhorrent and it must end.”
David Prentice, the vice president at the Charlotte Lozier Institute and an expert in stem cell research, told the Washington Examiner that the storage of the human fetal remains was “unethical,” as informed consent could not be obtained from a deceased individual, and the use of paper bags and boxes was contrary to proper storage protocols.
“[Donated tissue] would be properly stored in sterile containers … and frozen at an ultracold temperature, sometimes with chemicals to prevent degradation of the tissue,” Prentice said. “There is no proper way to store, whether it’s a human fetus or any human individual, in a paper bag in the freezer. This is completely disrespecting a human individual to do that. It’s immoral and unethical.”
The Washington Examiner contacted the university multiple times for the opportunity to comment. The university acknowledged the request but never provided a comment.
The university’s history of maintaining the nation’s largest fetal organ tissue bank has been well documented and was mentioned in a 2017 Congressional report into human fetal tissue sales between abortion clinics and stem cell research labs. The congressional investigation was prompted by a series of undercover videos released in 2015 that showed Planned Parenthood employees discussing the selling of human fetal tissue and haggling over price.
That investigative report specifically noted that the university had failed to produce all relevant documentation regarding its fetal organ bank, including information regarding the transportation of fetal tissue and organs to other research labs at numerous institutions of higher education for which the university claimed it charged a flat fee of $200.
From 2010 to 2015, the university obtained human fetal remains from 15 different abortion clinics, both in the neighboring Seattle area and from other clinics nationwide. In the same time frame, the university provided human fetal organs and tissue to 40 different universities and research labs, including the Environmental Protection Agency. The research conducted with the organs and tissue was often funded by federal grants.
The activists discovered the freezer by reviewing a 2013 invoice from the University of Indiana, obtained via a public records request, that showed the University of Indiana paid the University of Washington $400 for two brain specimens in the late spring of that year.
“[The University of Washington] serves as the Amazon of baby body parts,” Prentice told the Washington Examiner. “They send them out to universities and research labs who you know place an order for X number of baby brains or eyeballs or whatever of a certain … gestational age.”
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“The idea of putting them in paper bags is so they can do same-day and next-day shipping for their delivery options,” he went on. “But there is a complete disrespect for the dignity of any human life.”
Prentice, who holds a Ph.D. in biochemistry from the University of Kansas, was quick to note that there is little to no biomedical research that can only be conducted with fetal tissue.
“That’s simply antiquated science that has never resulted in any sort of cures,” Prentice said. “Let’s be frank about this: It should turn people’s stomachs to hear about them storing whole babies or limbs or other organs in the freezer.”
