Sale of fetal tissue is legal, but prices for processing are a 'gray and musty area'
Federal law allows the sale of fetal tissue from abortion clinics as long as the sellers do not profit and the women donating the tissue give consent.
But there is no limit on charges for processing and shipping the tissue, the New York Times reports. One example: StemExpress, one of two companies that handle much of the processing, charges $24,000 for processing five million frozen fetal liver stem cells called “CD133+.”
These middlemen companies typically pay $100 or less for a tissue specimen to abortion providers such as Planned Parenthood. StemExpress founder Cate Dyer says the company processes tissue for hard-to-find cell types and employs 37 people. The specific cells sought by researchers have to be processed, a difficult process that may require equipment worth millions of dollars, she says.
The tissue is aiding research on health issues such as eye diseases, diabetes and muscular dystrophy.
The law surrounding the sale of fetal tissue is in the news because of controversial undercover videos posted by an anti-abortion group in which a Planned Parenthood official discusses the sale of fetal tissue. The president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Cecile Richards, has said the video is part of a “smear campaign” and no laws were broken, report CNN and the Huffington Post.
Arthur Caplan, the director of the division of medical ethics at NYU Langone Medical Center, told the New York Times that fees charged by the processing companies don’t break the law.
“It appears to be legal, no matter how much you charge,” Caplan said. “It’s a very gray and musty area as to what you can charge.”
Headline updated at 9:41 a.m.
