Commentary: Congressman Steve Pearce released the following statement after the second criminal referral to New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas was made by the U.S. House Select Investigative Panel on Infant Lives, imploring state and university leaders to address the serious violations uncovered by the Panel’s investigation.
“The entire report released by the Select Panel raises serious concerns of ethical and legal violations occurring at UNM and Southwestern Women’s Options. Most troubling though is their complete disregard for regulations put in place by lawmakers to protect women and children. UNM and SWWO have created a culture where obtaining baby body parts, deceiving patients, and maintaining faculty perks are higher priorities than following laws and basic healthcare principles,” said Pearce.
During the Select Panel’s investigation an employee of SWWO and faculty member of UNM admitted that she had never received proper consent from a patient for the harvesting of baby body parts, and further acknowledged that she did not recognize the consent form SWWO and UNM provided to the Panel. Another faculty member from UNM admitted that there is no procedure in place to handle infants who are born alive during an abortion, and confirmed that there have been instances of infants exiting the womb before expected. When asked if she was familiar with the Born-Alive Infant Protection Act, she responded that she was not familiar and that she did not understand the relevancy to her practice.
“I am here to remind UNM, SWWO, and NM Attorney General Hector Balderas that respecting human life is relevant. I am here to remind them that as a taxpayer funded institution, upholding the law and punishing violators is relevant. In the UNM Health Sciences Center Code of Ethics, Dr. Paul Roth writes that, ‘In order to maintain public trust and accountability, we adhere to the highest ethical standards and compliance in all research activities.’ So I ask Dr. Roth, the UNM Board of Regents, NM Attorney General Hector Balderas and the taxpayers of our state; is it ethical to disregard procedures that check for signs of life, such as looking for a heartbeat or giving an Apgar test? Is it ethical for UNM to obtain the body parts of aborted babies, including baby brains for a high school summer camp dissection project, without proper consent? Is it ethical to leave a baby to die without care or acknowledgement in the name of research?
We have a reached a critical point where UNM and the NM Attorney General must decide if the rule of law applies to everyone, or if they will remain silent and let the negligence of laws and human life become the status quo. The laws of fetal tissue procurement are exact and prescriptive, and by their own admission UNM and SWWO either don’t know the laws or don’t care about them. It is time for the leaders of UNM and the New Mexico Attorney General to ensure that illegal and unethical conduct at the expense of innocent New Mexicans is investigated and met with just punishment.”
The Select Panel on Infant Lives sent their first criminal referral in June of 2016 and, after finding more evidence of violations in the procedures of fetal tissue procurement by the University of New Mexico and Southwestern Women’s Options, sent their second criminal referral in December 2016.