Posted on 08/13/2015 6:46:02 AM PDT by LS
In a 1992 study, Carson and his colleagues from Johns Hopkins used fetal tissue to better understand how the human brain develops. But in the wake of the Planned Parenthood videos, the presidential candidate has called fetal tissue research “disturbing.”
Ben Carson, a Johns Hopkins neurosurgeon and Republican presidential candidate, previously did research using human fetal tissue.
In the wake of the hidden-camera videos showing Planned Parenthood doctors discussing how to provide aborted fetuses to scientific researchers, Carson has told Fox News that the benefits of this research have been “overpromised” and “under-delivered.”
Late on Wednesday, an OB/GYN and science writer Jen Gunter revealed on her blog a 1992 study in which Carson and three other colleagues used tissue from the fetal brain and nasal cavity to better understand the development of the chambers (or “ventricles”) of the brain. These tissues “were obtained from two fetuses aborted at the ninth and and 17th week of gestation,” the paper says.
Last month on the Fox News program The Kelly File, Carson said:
“At 17 weeks, you’ve got a nice little nose and little fingers and hands and the heart’s beating. It can respond to environmental stimulus. How can you believe that that’s just an irrelevant mass of cells? That’s what they want you to believe, when in fact it is a human being.”
Aborted fetuses have been used for a wide variety of medical research for decades. The vast majority of scientists who depend on this tissue are refusing to talk about it, afraid of retribution from anti-abortion activists.
“As a neurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson knows full well that fetal tissue is essential for medical research,” Gunter wrote in her post. “His discipline would have a hard time being [where] it is today without that kind of work.”
A representative from the Carson campaign said they are not commenting at this TIme.
I didn't see anything in the post about Carson using fetal tissue from abortions. The claim is just that he used fetal tissue for research. If that tissue came from miscarriages, etc., then that it very different from what PP is doing.
I also see that the claim is this occurred 23 years ago. I don't know if Carson was pro-life or conservative back then. If he wasn't, I'd want to know more about how he changed his position on abortion, when and why, before making a judgment.
Let's see what his response to this is before jumping all over him.
Exactly.
This is just a sign, sadly, that his team was not prepared. He just may not be ready for the major leagues of politics yet.
The most effective witnesses for the goodness of Christ's grace seems to be those who sank as far into sin as possible. The guy who never really strayed from the path, whose sins never caused major repercussions to his life, doesn't get near the press as the former convict who killed a man and ran a drug empire talking about how God delivered him.
Likewise, a neurosurgeon who worked with fetal tissue 20+ years ago is the most compelling voice of how he came to realize that abortion is an abomination that is unnecessary for medical research.
He (and by that I mean both himself and his team) should have anticipated this and prepared a response beforehand.
1) GOP field is very big. Can't isolate and destroy the way they used to if it was only Gingrich or Perry;
2) The Donald. While he may attack his own often, nevertheless his relentless scorched earth against enemies has rubbed off on several other candidates (Jindal, Fiorina) and they are less likely to just take it.
Now, Carson is a soft-spoken guy and I don't know if he's ready for the rough and tumble of politics.
Oh, and don't think this is coincidence coming off his trip to Harlem and making inroads with blacks about abortion.
Being unrepentant about calling Rosie O’Donnell a fat cow is one thing but being unrepentant and defiant about using aborted baby parts in research is another!
He might as well join planned parenthood if fighting back is his game plan.
I mean, sure, we COULD have debtor's prisons, and indentured servants for debt. We used to. Used to have stocks and whippings for people who got into debt over their heads. But we kind of got away from all that after the Civil War (I).
Bankruptcy laws may be abused by some, both the corporate and personal kinds. But many great people (and great companies) have overcome bankruptcy and emerged strong and ultimately benefited many people. The net effect is that people are allowed to take risks starting companies without fear of being killed by society for failing.
Did you know that the department store Macy guy went bankrupt five (5) times before he started firing on all cylinders? His company is more than a century old.
To me, Trump's bankruptcies make him Churchillian and unstoppable.
I really believe he will be POTUS, in part, because he was bankrupt (only) four times, and he keeps getting up and fighting.
That’s a long enough time to believe someone has changed their heart and mind. Not like Romney and Trump where they change their minds right around the time they form their presidential exploratory committees.
Exactly. The issue is Planned Parenthood’s wheeling and dealing.
Using cadavers, whether babies or an adults, helps doctors better understand how to treat disease and genetic disorders. We don’t kill adults to use them for medical research. We shouldn’t kill babies either. If and when the baby/adult dies, parents/spouses can consider donation. At that point, I have no issue with the research.
But pushing women to have an abortion AND pushing them to donate their babies’ body parts is horrific.
Let’s see what his response to this is before jumping all over him.
___________________________
See the link in post 10. “I don’t know that it needs to be banned”. From last week.
That in essence is like saying; “While I disagree with abortion, I don’t know that it needs to be banned.”
Not all fetal tissue research comes from abortions. Some of it comes from miscarriages. When he did his research, he may not have realized which source it came from, only the gestational ages.
Sounds like Macy’s is now well on the way to #6.
Trump’s BKs were strategic to minimize losses and taxes.
read...”walk away from financial responsibilities”
From a scientific technical point of view, miscarriages are also called “abortions”, though they usually are called spontaneous as well. That the tissue came from a miscarriage can’t be ruled out because of the language in the paper.
I’d wait to hear exactly what Carson says about it now that this has come to light. He may not have been pro-life at that point. I’m going to wait before I pass judgment on him.
We’ll have to amend the phrase to say that a politician can’t be caught with a dead girl, a live boy or an aborted fetus.
So let me ask:
Did Carson purchase this tissue from aborted baby parts? That’s really where the disgust and the debate is, isn’t it?
Where does it say Carson used aborted baby parts for research? All it says is he did fetal tissue research. For all we know, these were babies who died prematurely of natural causes who’s mothers donated their bodies to science.
Aborted - in text like that - could mean via induced abortion (like what PP did) or natural abortion (when the baby dies in the womb on its own).
Don’t assume.
They have no idea of the magnitude of the RAGING FURY of decent Americans!
I don’t know the details of where he got it yet. Maybe it was an approved tissue provider service.
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