Nebraska's Roman Catholic bishops said Thursday that the University of Nebraska Medical Center's research with fetal tissue from elective abortions makes the center morally complicit with "an evil act."  | | Elden Curtis is one of three local bishops that oppose UNMC's fetal research program. |
|  | |
The bishops said that while the NU Medical Center's motives may be praiseworthy, "the alliance with induced abortion is unmistakable." "While UNMC would want everyone to presume and understand that it does not have causative responsibility for the performance of abortions, this does not disengage it from moral complicity with the evil of abortion," they said. The bishops - Elden Curtiss of Omaha, Fabian Bruskewitz of Lincoln and Lawrence McNamara of Grand Island - did not rule out the use of all fetal tissue for research purposes. They acknowledged that "meritorious objectives and benefits" accrue from such research, including the potential to treat Alzheimer's disease. The use of fetal material derived from miscarriages, they said, "can be morally and ethically licit." "Nevertheless," the bishops said, "under the circumstances as they exist at UNMC, involving an inevitable moral complicity with induced abortions, the benefits, no matter how desirable and significant they are, do not and cannot justify the means, which are intrinsically evil." Medical Center officials have said the research could lead to advances against Alzheimer's disease, other forms of dementia and other nerve-related disorders. Jim Cunningham, spokesman for the Nebraska Catholic Conference, said the bishops' statement will be sent to state legislators, regents, Catholic pastors and other interested parties. Although no further action is planned now, he said, the bishops will continue to discuss the issue. "This is a very serious issue . . . involving some very fundamental moral issues," Cunningham said. In another development, Attorney General Don Stenberg on Wednesday raised the issue of whether tissue used in the research may have come from the controversial late-term procedure its opponents call "partial-birth" abortion. Stenberg called the fetal-cell research "morally wrong" and said the Medical Center should stop using brain cells from aborted fetuses. A 1997 Nebraska law banned the so-called "partial-birth" abortion, which is known medically as "intact dilation and extraction," but the ban was struck down in September by a federal appeals court. Stenberg has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to take up Nebraska's case. The original court challenge was filed by attorneys representing Dr. LeRoy Carhart, who operates an abortion clinic in Bellevue. Carhart has supplied the tissue from aborted fetuses that is used for the brain-cell research at the NU Medical Center. "Although the law is currently enjoined, the Legislature intended to make it illegal to perform partial-birth abortions," Stenberg said. Stenberg said the university should support the state's ban by refusing to use fetal cells because they could have come from the contested procedure. Stenberg, a Republican candidate for U.S. Senate, said he does not have evidence that the fetal tissue used in the university's research is coming from that procedure. "But a partial-birth abortion would give them an uninfected, uncontaminated brain tissue," he said. Other abortion procedures, such as suctioning, would result in a mix of all kinds of tissue and fluids, he said. "I think the university needs to make a complete disclosure on exactly how the fetal materials were obtained, the ages of the fetuses and whether all or part come from partial-birth abortions," Stenberg said. Earlier this week Gov. Mike Johanns asked NU to stop using tissue from aborted human fetuses for research. NU President L. Dennis Smith said the research would continue. Halting it would have a "chilling effect" on the university, he said. A spokesman for the governor said the issue now moves to the Legislature and to the NU Board of Regents. Speaker of the Legislature Doug Kristensen of Minden said Wednesday that it is premature to predict what the Legislature might do. "I would cringe if there were more abortions in order to do this (research)," he said. "But I'm not sure that's true." Kristensen said he intends to wait for more information. Sens. George Coordsen of Hebron and Dwite Pedersen of Elkhorn said they oppose the research and will support reduced funding for the NU system if they can't get the fetal-tissue research stopped any other way. If NU officials won't stop the research, "I won't support the university, period," Pedersen said. Sen. Pat Engel of South Sioux City said that while he opposes fetal-tissue research, the Legislature needs to be careful about cutting NU's funding because that could harm the university's other research. A bill might be introduced banning fetal-tissue research at the university, Coordsen, Pedersen and Engel said. Such a bill would provide a platform for extensive discussion of the issue. Sen. Pam Brown of Omaha said the Medical Center should continue its research. Future funding for NU should be based on the merit of the university's requests, not on the issue of the federally funded fetal-tissue research, she said. Meanwhile, Rep. Lee Terry, R-Neb., said he is disappointed that the NU Medical Center is engaged in fetal-tissue research. He predicted that as a result of disclosures about that type of research at NU and elsewhere, a bill will be introduced in Congress to prevent such research. Terry said he is unsure whether enough support exists in the House to pass such a bill. World-Herald staff writer Robert Dorr contributed to this report.
| FORUMS | | FLASH: There are special discussion group(s) regarding this topic in the Omaha.com Forums! You can join the special discussion by selecting the special forum from the list below or click here to visit other Forums. | Nebraska Government (279 active posts)
|
|
| 
Es la visita
