{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://hern.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=429", "Hern stands up for life, holds Biden Admin accountable for fetal tissue research", "2021-09-24", "2021", "2021-09", "Republican", "House", "OK", "Kevin Hern", "H001082", "hern.house.gov", "hern", "https://hern.house.gov/news/documentquery.aspx", "scraper", "Today, Representative Kevin Hern (OK-01) voted against HR 3755, a bill to strip states of their legislative powers and enact federal late-term abortion, overriding any pro-life legislation at the state level.\n\nRep. Hern spoke on the House floor against HR 3755, more appropriately named \u201cThe Abortion on Demand Act\u201d.\n\nYou can watch Rep. Hern\u2019s full remarks here.\n\nAdditionally, Rep. Hern joined almost 100 members of Congress on a letter to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland and HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra demanding answers on Pittsburgh University\u2019s federally funded fetal tissue research. The letter is a response to recently obtained records showing that researchers from the University altered abortion procedures in order to harvest organs from babies who were old enough to live outside the womb. Research of this manner is strictly prohibited by federal law.\n\nJoining Rep. Hern on the letter are:\n\nSenators James M. Inhofe (R-OK), James Lankford (R-OK), Josh Hawley (R-MO), Steve Daines (R-MT), Ted Cruz (R-TX), John Boozman (R-AR), Bill Cassidy (R-LA), John Thune (R-SD), James E. Risch (R-ID), Jerry Moran (R-KS), Tom Cotton (R-AR), Marco Rubio (R-FL), Roger F. Wicker (R-MS), Mike Braun (R-IN), M. Michael Rounds (R-SD), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS), Rick Scott (R-FL), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), and Rand Paul (R-KY).\n\nRepresentatives Jim Banks (R-IN-03), Markwayne Mullin (R-OK-02),Lisa McClain (R-MI-10), Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-MO-03), Jim Jordan (R-OH-04), Christopher H. Smith (R-NJ-04), Rodney Davis (R-IL-13), Jake LaTurner (R-KS-02), Jeff Duncan (R-SC-03), Michael Cloud (R-TX-27), Randy Feenstra (R-IA-04), Randy Weber (R-TX-14), Ralph Norman (R-SC-05), Brian Babin (R-TX-36), Chris Jacobs (R-NY-27), Glenn \u201cGT\u201d Thompson (R-PA-15), William R. Timmons, IV (R-SC-04), Ann Wagner (R-MO-02), Tim Walberg (R-MI-07), Steven M. Palazzo (R-MS-04), Paul A. Gosar (R-AZ-04), Jake Ellzey (R-TX-06), Steve Womack (R-AR-03), Bruce Westerman (R-AR-04), Matther Rosendale, Sr. (R-MT-AL), Andy Biggs (R-AZ-05), Ben Cline (R-VA-06), Michael Guest (R-MS-03), Roger Williams (R-TX-25), Ron Estes (R-KS-04), Debbie Lesko (R-AZ-08), Madison Cawthorn (R-NC-11), Jody Hice (R-GA-10), Alex X. Mooney (R-WV-02), Scott Franklin (R-FL-15), Vicky Hartzler (R-MO-04), Doug LaMalfa (R-CA-01), Darin LaHood (R-IL-18), Brad R. Wenstrup (R-OH-02), Rick Crawford (R-AR-01), David B. McKinley (R-WV-01), Warren Davidson (R-OH-08), Bob Good (R-VA-05), Trent Kelly (R-MS-01), Andrew S. Clyde (R-GA-09), Jacki Walorski (R-IN-02), Lauren Boebert (R-CO-03), Glenn Grothman (R-WI-06), Tom Tiffany (R-WI-07), Daniel Webster (R-FL-11), Doug Lamborn (R-CO-05), Ronny L. Jackson (R-TX-13), Bill Johnson (R-OH-06), Guy Reschenthaler (R-PA-14), Earl L. \u201cBuddy\u201d Carter (R-GA-01), Louie Gohmert (R-TX-01), Mike Kelly (R-PA-16), David Kustoff (R-TN-08), Barry Moore (R-AL-02), Andy Harris (R-MD-01), Mary E. Miller (R-IL-15), John Rose (R-TN-06), Chip Roy (R-TX-21), Bill Huizenga (R-MI-02), Billy Long (R-MO-07), Mike Bost (R-IL-12), French Hill (R-AR-02), Michelle Fischbach (R-MN-07), Julia Letlow (R-LA-05), Michael C. Burgess (R-TX-26), Mike Johnson (R-LA-04), and Robert B. Aderholt (R-AL-04).\n\nYou can read the full letter here and below:\n\nSeptember 21, 2021\n\nThe Honorable Merrick Garland The Honorable Xavier Becerra\n\nUnited States Attorney General Secretary of Health & Human Services\n\nU.S. Department of Justice U.S. Department of Health & Human Services\n\n950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Room1145 200 Independence Avenue SW\n\nWashington, D.C. 20530 Washington, D.C. 20201\n\nThe Honorable Francis Collins, M.D., Ph.D.\n\nDirector\n\nNational Institutes of Health\n\nU.S. Department of Health and Human Services\n\nBuilding One, Room 244\n\nOne Center Drive\n\nBethesda, MD 20892\n\nDear Attorney General Garland, Secretary Becerra, and Director Collins,\n\nWe are alarmed by public records obtained from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) which show that the University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) may have violated federal law by altering abortion procedures to harvest organs from babies who were old enough to live outside the womb. We ask for a complete investigation into the activities of this organization and a full report of findings and any remedial measures necessary.\n\nThe NIH documents detailing Pitt\u2019s grant request were obtained in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request from the Center for Medical Progress. Between fiscal years 2016 and 2020, NIH awarded approximately $1.5 million to Pitt for a project related to the GenitoUrinary Developmental Molecular Anatomy Project (GUDMAP) program.[1] The GUDMAP program was intended to provide the scientific and medical community tools to study \u201ccongenital diseases of the genitourinary tract (kidneys, bladder, ureter, uretha)\u201d by obtaining such organs from aborted babies for research.[2] In its application for funding to be a GUDMAP \u201ctissue hub and collection site\u201d Pitt states that its Health Science Tissue Bank (HSTB) has been involved in procuring and disbursing the body parts of aborted babies for years, noting that \u201cthe fetal tissue IRB [Institutional Review Board] has been in place since 2005.\u201d[3] The application contains references in several places regarding the HSTB to the Pitt Institutional Review Board (IRB)[4] but also states that the IRB forms are in the process of being altered[5] and the IRB review is pending.[6]\n\nFirst, Pitt\u2019s application raises concern that it has failed to comply with federal law prohibiting the alteration of abortion procedures solely for the purpose of obtaining fetal tissue, which states that an attending physician may have \u201cno part in any decisions as to the timing, method, or procedures used to terminate a pregnancy.\u201d[7]It is not clear that Pitt has complied with these legal requirements based on the following statements on Pitt\u2019s grant application:\n\nPitt states that \u201cischemia time is minimized\u201d when it obtains fetal tissue.[8] NIH defines \u201cischemia\u201d as \u201ctime a tissue,organ, or body part remains at body temperature after its blood supply has been reduced or cut off but before it is cooledor reconnected to a blood supply.\u201d[9] It would be illegal for Pitt to alter the \u201ctiming, method, or procedures\u201d of the abortion to minimize ischemia time.\n\nPitt states that it \u201ctailor[s] [its] collection processes on a case-by-case basis to maximize the needs of investigators.\u201d[10]It would be illegal for researchers to have any part in the decisions surrounding the obtainment of fetal tissue from elective abortions.\n\nSecond, if the organs were harvested from babies born after induced abortion, we are concerned that some of these babies were born alive, could have survived with appropriate care, and may have died as a result of having their organs harvested. Pitt\u2019s application states that it can obtain access to the organs and tissues of unborn babies between 6-24 weeks gestation, but it partners with another organization to obtain unborn babies between 25-42 weeks gestation.[11] Babies as young as less than 22 weeks gestation have been known to survive outside the womb with appropriate care.[12] The statements about \u201cwarm ischemia\u201d raise questions about the cause of death for these babies. As noted above, Pitt states that it sought to minimize the time between when the blood supply to an organ was reduced and when the organ is cooled or reconnected. If the organs are harvested from a baby born after induced abortion, it is possible the baby was delivered alive, and the removal of the organs was the cause of the baby\u2019s death.\n\nExploiting the body parts of aborted children for research purposes is repulsive and should stop, regardless of the outcome hoped for by researchers. Research using abortive fetal tissue is unethical, wrong, and has also been proven ineffective. Despite being used in clinical research since the 1920s, fetal tissue has not produced a single clinical treatment.[13]\n\nBased on these considerations, for the federal awards given the project number 1U24DK110791, please provide full and clear responses to the following information requests going back to the beginning of the grant project period to today:\n\nThe number of cases at each gestational age involving abortion, miscarriage, stillbirth, and neonate utilized in the GUDMAP program during the grant project period;\n\nDetailed protocols for Dilation & Curettage, Dilation & Evacuation, and Labor Induction followed to obtain fetal tissuefor the GUDMAP program\n\nThe detailed biospecimen collection IRB application and approval for the Health Science Tissue Bank;\n\nDocumentation to verify the physiological status of babies delivered by labor induction upon tissue harvest;\n\nThe number of fetal tissue collection procedures from babies delivered by labor induction;\n\nDocumentation of the number of babies delivered by labor induction that were deceased, and cardiac activity had ceasedprior to fetal organ and tissue collection;\n\nDocumentation of when \u201cwarm ischemia\u201d time was recorded with reference to death when collecting organs and tissue from abortion, miscarriage, stillbirth, and neonate;\n\nDocumentation on the specific steps that were taken to minimize warm ischemic time when collecting organs and tissue from abortion, miscarriage, stillbirth, and neonate;\n\nDetails on how specimens are collected and transferred to the Tissue Hub and the personnel involved at each step;\n\nDocumentation of how compliance is ensured (including any reporting and oversight mechanisms) with regard to each of the following statutes and regulations:\n\nThe Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act (18 U.S.C. 1531);\n\nResearch protections for pregnant women and fetuses (42 U.S.C. 289g, 289g-1, and 45 C.F.R. 46.204);\n\nResearch protections for neonates (45 C.F.R. 46.205); and,\n\nProhibitions regarding fetal tissue (42 U.S.C. 289g-2, 45 C.F.R. 46.206).\n\nWe appreciate your attention to this matter and look forward to your prompt and thorough response to each of these requests. We ask for a response by the date of October 12, 2021\n\n[1] Award Letter. Department of Health and Human Services National Institutes of Health. Grant number 1U24DK110791-01. September 12, 2016.\n\n[2] NIH RePORT Project Details. \u201cUniversity of Pittsburgh as the GUDMAP Tissue Hub and Collection Site.\u201d Abstract Text. https://reporter.nih.gov/search/p3w-bb6YsECf3hOTrF_iLA/project-details/9944639#history\n\n3 University of Pittsburgh. Application for Federal Assistance SF 424 (R&R). Page 7. https://www.centerformedicalprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/GUDMAP2015NIHappFOIA.pdf\n\n[4] University of Pittsburgh. Application for Federal Assistance SF 424 (R&R). Pages 7, 60, 61, 64.\n\n[5] University of Pittsburgh. Application for Federal Assistance SF 424 (R&R). Pages 62, 65, 70.\n\n[6] University of Pittsburgh. Application for Federal Assistance SF 424 (R&R). Page 6.\n\n[7] 45 C.F.R. 46.204(i). This regulation extends to all Federally-funded human fetal tissue research the statutory requirements of 42 U.S.C. 289g-1, which states that, \u201cno alteration of the timing, method, or procedures used to terminate the pregnancy [may be] made solely for the purposes ofobtaining the tissue\u201d for \u201cresearch on the transplantation of human fetal tissue for therapeutic purposes.\u201d\n\n[8] \u201cJW v HHS NIH July 2021 Records 00642 pg 170.\u201d Judicial Watch. August 3, 2021. https://www.judicialwatch.org/documents/hhs-cmp-responsive-records-july-2021-pg-170/\n\n[9] Definition of warm ischemia time - NCI Dictionary of Cancer Terms - National Cancer Institute\n\n[10] \u201cJW v HHS NIH July 2021 Records 00642 pg 170.\u201d Judicial Watch. August 3, 2021. https://www.judicialwatch.org/documents/hhs-cmp-responsive-records-july-2021-pg-170/\n\n[11] University of Pittsburgh. Application for Federal Assistance SF 424 (R&R). Page 60.\n\n[12] Ahmad, Kaashif A. et al. \u201cTwo-Year Neurodevelopmental Outcome of an Infant Born at 21 Weeks\u2019 4 Days\u2019 Gestation.\u201d Pediatrics. November2017. https://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/early/2017/10/31/peds.2017-0103\n\n[13] \u201cFinal Report.\u201d Select Investigative Panel of the Energy & Commerce Committee. 30 December 2016. Pg. 386.\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T20:17:01Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://hern.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=429"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.5804448630660772, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}