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Pro-life group says ‘human atrocities’ being cloaked as ‘research’

Pro-life advocates received confirmation this week that federal law enforcement officials are investigating the University of Pittsburgh’s research practices involving aborted babies’ organs and other body parts.

New documents obtained by the watchdog groups Center for Medical Progress and Judicial Watch, published Tuesday, show evidence that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services began investigating the university in late 2021.

“The emails confirm for the first time the existence of a federal law enforcement investigation of the Planned Parenthood-assisted aborted human fetal tissue transfers at the University of Pittsburgh,” the Center for Medical Progress stated Tuesday in a news release.

David Daleiden, founder and president of the Center for Medical Progress, said in the release they are working to obtain a copy of the federal subpoena. He said they believe the subpoena likely asked the university for information about its abortion practices, patient consent, and documentation of infants born alive in abortions.

▶️VIDEO UPDATE:

In new FOIA documents, a University of Pittsburgh Vice Chancellor discloses that the school's late-term aborted baby organ harvesting program—supplied by Planned Parenthood doctors—is under federal law enforcement investigation.

⚖️🏛️🚨pic.twitter.com/u84RqhSX0v

— David Daleiden (@daviddaleiden) December 13, 2023

The documents, obtained through Freedom of Information Act requests, include emails between the National Institutes of Health, a federal agency that funds research at the public university, and University of Pittsburgh Senior Vice Chancellor for Research Dr. Rob Rutenbar.

Several of the emails in late 2021 mention an investigation and subpoena by the HHS Office of Inspector General, documents show.

In a Nov. 5, 2021 email, Rutenbar said the university received a subpoena from the HHS Office of Inspector General requesting documents about the “fetal tissue collection procedures associated with the GenitoUrinary Development Molecular Anatomy Project (GUDMAP) Tissue Hub and Collection Site at the University of Pittsburgh.”

The GUDMAP is a tissue bank run by the university that “harvested fetal kidneys from late-term abortions performed by Planned Parenthood doctors” for use in scientific research, according to the Center for Medical Progress.

For years, the center has investigated the use of aborted babies’ organs in scientific research.

Two years ago, the watchdog organization helped to expose an experiment by University of Pittsburgh researchers that involved implanting the scalps of aborted babies onto rodents to study the human immune system. In the study, published in the journal Scientific Reports, researchers included photos that showed tufts of fine infant hair growing on the rodents.

In another case, in 2021, the Center for Medical Progress reported evidence of viable babies potentially being born alive in abortions at the University of Pittsburgh.

Daleiden said the university’s abortion practices are “human atrocities” cloaked as “research.”

“Pitt’s own statements indicating its Planned Parenthood partners use criminal partial-birth abortions to harvest fetal organs to sell for NIH grant money are serious enough that a federal law enforcement agency opened a formal investigation following CMP’s reporting,” Daleiden said Tuesday in a statement.

“If this investigation has been conducted honestly, the facts uncovered may be more horrifying than we ever imagined,” he continued, adding that “it is time for justice under the law for every level of the taxpayer-funded enterprise of selling aborted baby body parts.”

MORE: Pro-life groups keep pressure on U. Pittsburgh to end research on aborted babies

IMAGE: Center for Medical Progress screenshot

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