Assembly panel hears ban on use of fetal body parts; UW-Madison predicts it will halt life-saving research

A state Assembly panel is hearing a bill this morning to ban sale or use of body tissue from aborted fetuses, including for experimentation or research — a step that UW-Madison and biotech leaders say could halt important medical research in Wisconsin.

Supporters of the bill, which include anti-abortion groups, say it would prevent fetal body tissue from being trafficked for profit by Planned Parenthood or other organizations.

But officials at the UW-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health, as well as other biotech industry leaders, say the bill could hinder cutting-edge research on fetal tissue. About 100 labs on the UW campus use cells derived from fetal tissue in studies on cancer, heart disease, Parkinson’s disease, blindness and other conditions.

“This life-saving research would come to a complete, abrupt stop in Wisconsin,” the dean of the UW-Madison medicine school, Robert Golden, testified to the panel.