August 11, 2015, Madison, Wisconsin:

Today, the Assembly Committee on Criminal Justice and Public Safety heard testimony on AB 305, a bill introduced by Rep. Andre Jacque (R-DePere) that would prohibit the sale of fetal body parts in Wisconsin. Co-chair of the committee, Rep. Jesse Kremer (R-Kewaskum), issued the following remarks following the hearing:

“During today’s hearing, I heard a lot of discussion about the life-saving research that would be halted and the economic hit that Wisconsin’s bioscience industry would take as a result of this bill becoming law. However, Dr. Robert Golden, Dean of the UW School of Medicine and Public Health and Lisa Johnson, CEO of BioForward, Inc., the voice of Wisconsin’s bioscience industry, did not know what portion of the industry would be affected if fetal tissue was no longer available.

“Moving testimony was also heard from a former clinic director for Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast, who described some of the institutional terminology commonly used in the practice. She recounted that fetal tissues from abortions were
kept in ‘products of conception’ jars, also referred to as ‘pieces of children’ jars, and then transferred to the freezer which was chillingly referred to as ‘the nursery.’

“The realization that the ethical and moral fabric of our society has deteriorated to this point is startling. One cannot help but think of the atrocities committed in the name of research by Dr. Josef Mengele in 1940’s Germany when contemplating the situation here today. I simply cannot condone research, no matter how beneficial to our state’s economy, that obtains material through such means. I trust that this bill will put an end to these practices.”