Albuquerque, NM- The Associated Press released a brief report today alleging that New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas sent a letter to members of the House Select Investigative Panel stating that, “no state laws were broken by the transfer of fetal tissue between an Albuquerque abortion clinic and researchers at the University of New Mexico.”
Even though Tara Shaver, of Abortion Free New Mexico filed a complaint predating the congressional panels criminal referrals to Balderas’ office, Shaver has not received a similar letter. In fact, her legal counsel was informed on December 7, 2017 by Dylan Lange, Assistant Attorney General that a “civil investigation remains ongoing.”
Shaver’s complaint was prompted by a consent form from Southwestern Women’s Options (SWO) that women were required to sign before their abortion, stating that “I understand that tissue and parts will be removed during the procedure, and I consent to their examination and their use in medical research…” Shaver’s complaint outlined that two state statutes were believed to be in violated by SWO, the Jonathan Spradling Revised Uniform Anatomical Gift Act that excludes aborted babies from use in medical research and the Maternal, Fetal and Infant Experimentation Act which states that “No fetus shall be involved as a subject in any clinical research activity unless the purpose of the activity is to meet the health needs of the particular fetus and the fetus will be placed at risk only to the minimum extent necessary to meet such needs or no significant risk to the fetus is imposed by the research activity.” According to the Act, “‘fetus’ means the product of conception from the time of conception until the expulsion or extraction of the fetus or the opening of the uterine cavity, but shall not include the placenta, extra embryonic membranes, umbilical cord, extra embryonic fluids and their resident cell types and cultured cells.”
“It is business as usual in New Mexico that the Attorney General, Hector Balderas responds to a Congressional Committee more than one year after it was disbanded. It is my hope that the Department of Justice will take a dim view of Balderas’ incompetence and arrogance and will perform a proper investigation into the illegal activities going on within the New Mexico abortion cartel centered at UNM,” stated Fr. Stephen Imbarrato of Priests for Life.
“Attorney General Hector Balderas protects those who profit from and are in the business of dehumanizing children in the womb by his lack of enforcement of state laws that are designed to protect New Mexicans, which should include those in the sanctuary of their mothers’ wombs. There will never be justice in New Mexico until leaders, law makers and law enforcers stop propping up a failing abortion industry whose grisly trade negatively effects the most vulnerable of our communities,” stated Tara Shaver Spokeswoman for Abortion Free New Mexico.
Operation Rescue has worked with Abortion Free New Mexico to call for the prosecution of Southwestern Women’s Options and UNM.
“Attorney General Balderas lived up to his reputation as a corrupt pro-abortion Democrat by turning a blind eye to obvious violations of state law,” said Troy Newman, President of Operation Rescue. “We now turn to the U.S. Department of Justice to uphold the law and prosecute Southwestern Women’s Options and their cronies at the University of New Mexico for illegally trafficking aborted baby remains for profit.”
