University of Pittsburgh A Fetal Tissue Hub
Judicial Watch and the Center for Medical Progress have received 252 pages of documents from the Department of Health and Human Services, obtained by a lawsuit filed by Judicial Watch on behalf of The Center for Medical Progress under the FOIA. The documents reveal that HHS funded the University of Pittsburgh to the tune of approximately 3 million dollars for the University's ongoing efforts to become a "tissue hub" for human fetal tissue. The purpose of this "tissue hub" is to create a pipeline for the acquisition, quality control and distribution of human fetal organs for the GUDMAP (GenitoUrinary Development Molecular Anatomy Project) Study. In the proposal Pitt notes that they have been collecting fetal tissue for over 10 years, including, livers, hearts, gonads, brains , kidneys , ureters, bladders and legs. Pitt boasts strong working connections with UPMC facilities including a lab with a "Butcher Boy" band saw for sectioning bone and a frozen section lab with digital feeds to surgeons and for show and tell. The tissues are collected through a collaborative process including Family Planning, Obstetrics and Pathology departments. (Pitt's tissue bank is imbedded in UPMC's Department of Pathology) In the proposal Pitt records "the warm ischemic time" on samples to ensure the highest quality specimens. Warm ischemic time is defined as the amount of time an organ remains at body temperature after blood supply has been cut off. "These documents show taxpayer money being used to turn the University of Pittsburgh into a one-stop human fetal tissue shop- from procuring the tissue from elective abortion. 'subdividing' the human remains, to distributing and shipping the harvested tissue," stated Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton.
Fox news reported, 9/30/2021 that multiple Physicians reported to them that Pitt's previous statement alluded to the possibility that organs were extracted from live fetuses. Last week nearly 100 federal lawmakers sent letters to the Biden Administration suggesting Pitt's federally funded research might have utilized tissue from illegal abortions. Pitt has denied all allegations and has hired a D.C. Law firm to investigate and will release its' findings in 18 months.
The Law firm Pitt hired to investigate has Pitt alumni on its investigatory team and has limited the scope of the investigation to the University and not UPMC. The possibility of a conflict of interest here has been raised to the Board of Trustees President Thomas E. Richards. Richards responded that this was without merit.
There are several things that do not pass the smell test here. Why does it take 18 months to do an investigation? Why does the University hire a Pitt friendly law firm to conduct the investigation? If the charges are true there are human fetuses being butchered alive for their body parts, surely this calls for an emergent investigation.If Pitt wants to be transparent and has nothing to hide, they should make the effort to reconvene The Federal Tissue Advisory Board that contains credentialed scientists grounded in medical ethics to review the research. (Biden recently disbanded it). An alumni stacked law firm smacks of a cover up. This will all be swept under the rug. Our state and federal government not to mention the national news media are all radically pro-abortion and will be complicit along with Pitt in its coverup.