23 July 2010

I'll live with wrinkles

Abortion in U.S. a $1 billion industry: study
May 4th, 2010
By Rick DelVecchio

Abortion in the United States has become a $1 billion-a-year industry quietly fostered over 40 years by a climate that is allowing related, morally suspect commercial offshoots to develop in pharmaceuticals, cosmetics and life sciences, a new study alleges.

The author, Vicki Evans, Respect Life coordinator for the Archdiocese of San Francisco's Office of Public Policy and Social Concerns, says the legal ethic of abortion has become a "pervasive cultural ethos of abortion, reaching far beyond the immediate abortion participants to tarnish the very industries originally intended to benefit humanity."

"Legal and widespread abortion has made possible a host of clandestine business practices that thrive under the radar of the American populace," Evans says in a synopsis of her 72-page study. "Regulation and transparency are often avoided because of ideological fears of limiting access to abortion or of inviting scrutiny by opposing ideological groups. Thus, the commercialization of human beings as commodities persists."

Evans says abortion and its offshoots represent exploitation of the weak and vulnerable -- "the worst brand of injustice."

Evans wrote her study, "Commercial Markets Created by Abortion: Profiting From the Fetal Distribution Chain," as her thesis for her licentiate in bioethics from the Regina Apostolorum Pontifical University in Rome. She recently graduated summa cum laude.

A certified public accountant, Evans used her financial background to follow the money trail in the abortion industry and related businesses.

“I wanted to come up with a body of knowledge that nobody else had thought of before,” she told Catholic San Francisco. “In following the money and seeing who gets paid for what and how much they get paid, and how unregulated these areas are, I found a lot of facts that a lot of people wouldn’t have noticed or wouldn’t have thought to look for.”

Among Evans' findings:

-- There were 1,787 abortion providers in the United States in 2005.

-- Planned Parenthood Federation of America’s abortion market share grew from 12% in 1997 to nearly 25% in 2008.

-- “PPFA presents a comprehensive case study on how business evolves to capitalize on changes in the law and the prevailing culture": During the 1990 through 2008 election cycles, the abortion industry made political contributions of $15.76 million. Of this amount, $12.61 million, or 80%, went to abortion-supportive Democrats running for office.

-- The predominant industries engaged in fetal tissue research are part of the emerging life-science industry: the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and biologics sectors. Commercial use of fetal tissue has historically revolved around the production of childhood vaccines but is now expanding into vaccines to treat flu, HIV and more.

-- The cosmetics industry, particularly the anti-aging market segment, is a beneficiary of the growth of abortion. From miracle creams and emulsions developed using fetal-cell technologies, to face lifts and cosmetic procedures injecting aborted fetal tissue to promote youth and vitality, this business sector has an “enormous and increasing demand” for fetal cells and organs."

-- A fetal parts industry could not have developed without a legal and protected abortion structure. Millions of fetuses that are by-products of abortion cannot technically be bought and sold, but a market does exist

Evans concludes with an appeal to the dignity of life over utiliitarian considerations.

“Natural law dictates that there is something exceptional about man,” she writes. “The commercialization of human beings as commodities is contrary to the law written in his heart. The moral law does indeed have a bearing on the just ordering of society. When morality is excluded from a civil society, the weak and vulnerable are easily exploited for the benefit of the strong and powerful. This is the worst brand of injustice. It deserves to be brought to light.”

Text of Vicki Evans' thesis on abortion industry
May 8th, 2010
ATHENAEUM PONTIFICIUM REGINA APOSTOLORUM
Faculty of Bioethics
"Commercial Markets Created by Abortion: Profiting from the Fetal Distribution Chain"

(The text at this link ends abruptly...anyone know where the rest is?)

4 comments:

ArchAngel's Advocate said...

My exposure to this topic occurred about 10 years ago when a Bay Area bio-tech firm (now defunct, I think) was featured as using aborted baby tissue as sources of insulin producing cells for transplantation into diabetics. As a diabetic I immediately wrote them, the American Diabetic Association, and other entities condemning the practice. The ADA was the only one to respond, stating they weren't taking any position on the use of these tissues (I immediately severed my membership in them). I wonder if Mary Tyler Moore (who is a type 1 diabetic & a spokesperson for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Fund(?)) & a Roman Catholic (INO?) has spoken against the use of abortion generated tissue use?

swissmiss said...

Way to go AA! There are numerous small companies working on non-embryonic solutions. I don't know if it's an ethical issue for them or pure capitalism, but I wish them great success.

My husband's family is rife with the disease and is unapologetically for embryonic stem cell research and use, totally not understanding the difference between adult and embryonic stem cells. I've had my head bit off by them about it, "If YOU had a child with diabetes, you would support it too." I think they have quickly forgotten the diseases that have affected my own family and the mere fact my immediately family doesn't currently have it certainly doesn't mean I can't relate or have empathy.

I knew MTM had the disease, but didn't know she was a Catholic.

Anonymous said...

Oh that is truly vile.
I would rather crinkle like a prune than use dead baby on my face.
But then I wont be using any miracle cures that involve harvesting bits of murdered babies either.
God save us!

Laura The Crazy Mama said...

Do you happen to know which/what products use fetal cells for face cream/cosmetic use? I've never heard that before. "No babies were harmed in the manufacture of this product"? OH geez.