The UNM Health Sciences Center (HSC) and the abortion clinic at Southwestern Women’s Options (SWWO) have been criminally referred to New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas after an investigation carried out by the Selective Panel for Infant Lives under The Energy and Commerce Committee.
According to the findings of the investigation, SWWO and the HSC may have violated a federal statute through transfer of fetal tissue, specifically for valuable consideration; that is, any benefit, money or services exchanged in a contract.
Further investigation will be made into whether an additional federal statute, the Jonathan Spradling Revised Uniform Anatomical Gift Act, was violated. The Spradling Act regulates body part donations from the deceased.
In addition, the investigation alleges that too close of a relationship has formed between the HSC and SWWO. This allegation was detailed in a letter from Chairman of the Select Investigative Panel Marsha Blackburn to Balderas.
The investigational report alleges that UNM personnel was sufficiently involved in SWWO operations, including training new abortion doctors, providing “volunteer UNM faculty” status to local abortionists and leveraging the status of University leaders to organize UNM employees and students for partisan political activities.
The report also acknowledged details of the possible violation of the Spradling Act.
According to the investigational report, procurement notes provided to the panel by UNM further confirms the acquisition of aborted infant tissue from SWWO for research purposes, in addition to referencing specific studies written in the notes as well as lists of infant parts harvested.
Specifically, the report states that in May of 2012, lab techs logged that HSC representatives asked the clinic for whole brains to dissect with summer camp students.
The Spradling Act was revised in 2007, to clarify the meaning of ‘decedent,’: “deceased individual whose body or part is or may be the source of an anatomical gift, including a stillborn infant and a fetus but (does) not include a fetus that is the subject of an induced abortion.”
The 290 page report was sent to the Attorney General’s office via email June 23, and is available online.
This is the not the first investigation by the Select Investigative Panel on Infant Lives.
Just last year, the panel and nation were exposed to the highly controversial look at Planned Parenthood.
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The panel requested numerous clinics across the nation be investigated whilst the video of Planned Parenthood turned out to be highly edited and discredited, regardless, the investigations continued.
However, not all members on the panel agree. Jan Schakowsky of Illinois has been long calling the investigations and subpoenas a “witch hunt.” Numerous letters have been sent to House Speaker Paul Ryan by Democrats, some asking for disbandment of the panel completely.
The HSC office of the legal counsel provided a statement contradicting allegations.
“The University of New Mexico is profoundly disappointed in the tack taken by the Chair of the Select Investigative Panel,” according to the statement. “We categorically deny the Chair’s assertions in every respect.”
The statement said UNM, as well as it’s medical providers, are obligated to comply with all federal and state laws, rules and regulations. According to the statement, this includes following the requirements of the New Mexico Jonathan Spradling Uniform Anatomical Gift Act.
“This Act only applies to ‘decedents’ which is a defined term in the Act that specifically excludes fetuses from induced abortions from the definition of “decedents,”” according to the statement. “In other words, contrary to Chairman Blackburn’s assertions, this Act does not apply to fetuses from pregnancies that may have been terminated at Southwestern Women’s Options and provided free to the University of New Mexico for medical research.”
Southwestern Women’s Options is the sister clinic to Southwestern Women’s Surgery Center, located in Dallas, Texas.
Heather Brewer, spokesperson for SWWO, said for more than 40 years the clinic has provided high-quality care for New Mexico women.
“We are committed to continuing to provide compassionate care to women in our community,” Brewer said.
Elisa Martinez, executive director at New Mexico Alliance for Lives, said she expects the law to be upheld. NMAFL has been active in a “Blow the Whistle Campaign” encouraging employees at abortion clinics to “report any wrong-doing in strict confidence.”
Martinez said NMAFL also expects UNM Regents to conduct their own investigation, in addition to the immediate termination of all relationships with SWWO.
“These terminations would include the faculty appointments of three abortionists: Curtis Boyd, who is not even a board certified OB-GYN, in clear violation of UNM policy and the American Council of Graduate Medical Education standards, as pointed out by NMAFL in March,” Martinez said. “All parties complicit with violations of the law must be held accountable.”
She said NMAFL expects Balderas to investigate the relationship between Boyd and UNM, as well as the advocacy and training programs UNM and Boyd are involved in, in addition to the provision of tort claim coverage which NMAFL has also previously exposed and all other possible violations of the law. This includes UNM doctors accused of ordering the procurement of body parts from viable, 7-month-old infants to be dissected for a children’s summer camp at UNMHSC.
“We also welcome Hector Balderas to meet with NMAFL and its attorneys to review the vast body of evidence we have compiled,” Martinez said.
