WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Representatives Blaine Luetkemeyer (MO-03) and Lisa McClain (MI-10), alongside Senators Josh Hawley (R-MO), James Lankford (R-OK) and Steve Daines (R-MT) led a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland, HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra and NIH Director Francis Collins urging a complete investigation into the University of Pittsburgh’s abortion procedures and research. Recent reports from the NIH show the university may have violated federal law by altering abortion procedures solely for the purpose of obtaining fetal tissue. Even worse, the reports show that university researchers may have harvested organs from babies who were old enough to live outside the womb. 

“Exploiting the body parts of aborted children for research purposes is repulsive and should stop, regardless of the  outcome hoped for by researchers. Research using abortive fetal tissue is unethical, wrong, and has also been proven ineffective. Despite being used in clinical research since the 1920s, fetal tissue has not produced a single clinical treatment,” said the letter.

Sens. Ted Cruz (R-TX), John Boozman (R-AR), Bill Cassidy (R-LA), John Thune (R-SD), James Risch (R-ID), Jerry Moran (R-KS), Tom Cotton (R-AR), Marco Rubio (R-FL), Roger Wicker (R-MS), Mike Braun (R-IN), Michael Rounds (R-SD), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS), Rick Scott (R-FL), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Rand Paul (R-KY), James Inhofe (R-OK) and Reps. Jim Jordan (R-OH), Jim Banks (R-IN), Chris Smith (R-NJ), Rodney Davis (R-IL), Jake LaTurner (R-KS), Jeff Duncan (R-SC), Michael Cloud (R-TX), Randy Feenstra (R-IA), Ralph Norman (R-SC), Brian Babin (R-TX), Markwayne Mullin (R-OK), Chris Jacobs (R-NY), Glenn Thompson (R-PA), William Timmons (R-SC), Ann Wagner (R-MO), Tim Walberg (R-MI), Paul Gosar (R-AZ), Steve Womack (R-AR), Matthew Rosendale (R-MT), Ben Cline (R-VA), Roger Williams (R-TX), Debbie Lesko (R-AZ), Jody Hice (R-GA), Scott Franklin (R-FL), Doug LaMalfa (R-CA), Brad Wenstrup (R-OH), David McKinley (R-WV), Bob Good (R-VA), Andrew Clyde (R-GA), Lauren Boebert (R-CO), Tom Tiffany (R-WI), Daniel Webster (R-FL), Ronny Jackson (R-TX), Guy Reschenthaler (R-PA), Louie Gohmert (R-TX), David Kustoff (R-TN), Andy Harris (R-MD), John Rose (R-TN), Bill Huizenga (R-MI), Mike Bost (R-IL), Michelle Fischbach (R-MN) and Michael Burgess (R-TX) cosigned the letter.

Full text of the letter can be found HERE.