The GOP voted over and over again to use aborted fetal tissue for scientific research

[Update, 8/3/15]: From CNN: The fight over funding for Planned Parenthood shifts to a must-pass government funding measure this fall after a procedural vote in the Senate on legislation that would have barred all federal funds for the group failed on Monday.

The vote was 53-46, meaning the measure failed the get the 60 votes needed to overcome a Democratic filibuster on bringing the bill up for debate.

This coming Monday, GOP lawmakers in the Senate are holding a vote to defund Planned Parenthood, all coming on the heels of the activist groups using doctored videos in a viral campaign to frame the non-profit for “profiting” from the harvesting of “baby parts.”

Pro-life groups lying, doctoring videos, and taking information out of context to disseminate it to the public to fit their agenda is nothing new. But as ThinkProgress reports, focusing on the donation of fetal tissue by abortion clinics for medical research signifies a shift in tactics for the anti-abortion right.

The donation of fetal tissue for science used to have broad bi-partisan support, even from some of the Republicans who are utilizing it along with their ‘Planned Parenthood is committing genocide’ rhetoric.

Like stem cell research, ethical questions surrounding fetal tissue donation can trigger bigger debates over abortion. However, the issue has not always inspired such heated rhetoric from GOP lawmakers.

In 1988, during the Reagan administration, a panel of experts from the National Institutes of Health overwhelmingly voted in favor of allowing scientists to study biological material obtained from legal abortions. By a 19 to 0 vote, the group concluded that the practice should be considered morally acceptable because aborted fetal tissue is analogous to cadaver tissue, which is often used in scientific research.

And in 1993, members of Congress on both sides of the aisle voted to legalize fetal tissue research, even in cases when the samples were obtained from legal abortion procedures, when they approved the National Institutes of Health Revitalization Act.

Democrats and pro-choice groups are only now starting to bring this hypocrisy to the forefront, but according to ThinkProgress, no GOP politician who participated in the vote has acknowledged it in the current climate.

Featured image: Daily Kos

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