Should tissue of aborted babies be used for cosmetics?

Tuesday, March 12, 2013

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Daniel Lipsic, who serves as senior counsel to Alliance Defending Freedom, commented on a hearing scheduled in Hungary on March 13. At issue is a criminal case that involves the harvesting of human embryonic stem cells, as well as tissue from aborted babies to be used for cosmetic purposes. “A baby is precious, not a precious commodity,” said Lipsic in advance of the hearing. “This horrific and inhuman use of a child’s cells and tissues has no place in a civilized society. No one should be allowed to line their wallets with profit gained from creating this kind of black market--one that generates a hideous demand for babies’ bodies for use in unapproved, elective cosmetic procedures.”

According to ADF, nine people were arrested in July 2009 for using embryonic stem cells and tissue from aborted children for profit. At a plastic surgery clinic in southwest Hungary, approximately 118 miles from Budapest, hundreds of patients agreed to be injected with the fetal cells and tissue for $25,000 per treatment. Theses procedures were not approved by Hungary’s medical authorities or the Ethics Committee of the Scientific Advisory Board.

According to a brief filed by ADF in the case, “the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Justice ruled that, in the context of European patent law, life begins from the moment of conception” and that human embryos cannot be used for “industrial or commercial purposes.” In the brief, the ADF explained that Article 1 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights “calls for the protection of human dignity and guarantees to everyone respect for their physical integrity within the context of biology and medicine.”

The ADF brief concluded that “the use of embryonic stem cells and tissue in a way in which violates the human dignity of the unborn child is criminally unacceptable.” It added, “the gross negligence involved in the treatments and utter disdain for both the human life of the aborted children or the clients, all for the sole purpose of financial profit, should be punished with the most serious sentences available to this court.”

Daniel Lipsic is senior legal counsel for ADF in Austria. Lipsic has litigated a number of high-profile cases before the Slovak Constitutional Court and has served as a government official in the area of social and criminal reforms in the Slovak Republic.

Spero News editor Martin Barillas is a former US diplomat, who also worked as a democracy advocate and election observer in Latin America. He is also a freelance translator.