A coalition of pro-life activists is calling for accountability after they found human fetal remains in a freezer at University of Washington in Seattle.
Human fetal remains were found stored in a freezer at the University of Washington in Washington, by several pro-life groups who are now demanding accountability from institutions involved in scientific research of the aborted body parts. The groups showed a picture of a walk-in freezer at the university's Birth Defects Research Laboratory, which housed aborted babies' body parts.
In a statement, the leaders of several pro-life groups, including the Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising, Survivors of the Abortion Holocaust, Pro-Life San Francisco and Rehumanize International described it as "the largest and most active fetal organ bank in the nation located at the University of Washington in Seattle."
According to the Christian Post, Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising founder and executive director Terrisa Bukovinac sounded the alarm on 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."
Bukovinac said that the photo is proof that "there are real victims being lethally oppressed by UW and traded like property. Fetal trafficking is abhorrent and it must end."
Bukovinac furthermore said that the university is well aware that they are "engaged in practices" that are "likely leading to a failure to uphold the Born Alive Infant Protection Act" and that they are "not in compliance with federal law. She and three other pro-life leaders addressed the Board of Regents at UW, demanding transparency.
"We would like to see full transparency from the university to find out exactly what they're engaged in, force them to comply with the law and then ultimately to be held accountable for their crimes," Bukovinac declared.
Bukovinac reported that pro-life activists have been monitoring Seattle because they know it is an "abortion stronghold." She underscored how the University of Washington also failed to provide records of their fetal tissue research program and described the university as "the largest fetal tissue bank in the country."
Charlotte Lozier Institute vice president and stem cell research expert David Prentice told the Washington Examiner that the way the human fetal remains were being stored by UW was "unethical" and improper. He explained that donated tissue must be "stored in sterile containers...and frozen at an ultracold temperature, sometimes with chemicals to prevent degradation of the tissue."
Prentice called it "immoral and unethical" to have the human fetal remains stored in paper bags in a freezer, as it is "completely disrespecting a human individual." He added that it was a "complete disrespect for the dignity of any human life." He decried UW's practices, calling them the "Amazon of baby body parts."
UW has long caught the attention of Congress, as in 2016, a report detailed how the university received fetal tissue from "over a dozen clinics" in the preceding five years and charged recipients of the tissue with "a flat fee of $200." The UW Birth Defects Research Laboratory also received $600,000 in taxpayer funding from the National Institutes of Health in 2015.
