Kathleen Gray

Detroit Free Press Lansing Bureau

LANSING — The sale of fetal tissue already is illegal in Michigan. But the state Senate voted Wednesday to take that prohibition a step further by passing a bill that would make it a felony to provide any compensation for the distribution or transportation of any portion of an embryo, including delivering the tissue to medical research facilities.

The bill is meant to reiterate the state’s ban on the sale of any part of a human organ that’s been in place since 1978, said state Sen. Phil Pavlov, R-Saint Clair, who is the sponsor of the bill and is running for Congress this year.

“We’re just making sure that Michigan people understand that it’s against the law here,” he said. “I think there will be more of this type of legislation coming up.”

But Democrats said it was a bill that was unnecessary and a blatant political ploy by someone running for higher office.

“I understand that this is congressional politics and that people have ambitions, but we cannot pass laws that are already illegal to advance that goal,” said Sen. Coleman Young, D-Detroit. “This is throwing a bone to the Right to Life movement. This is pure politics in its rawest form.”

The sale of fetal tissue has been banned in federal law since 2011. Michigan’s public health codes ban the sale or transfer of any part of fetal tissue and the sale of any portion of a human organ, and has been on the books since 1978. The bill passed on a 26-10 vote Wednesday specifically mentions fetal tissue obtained through an elective abortion and makes it a felony punishable by five years in prison. Sen. Tory Rocca, R-Sterling Heights, joined all the Democrats in voting against the bill.

Medical research experts have testified that the law would harm vital research into cures for diseases ranging from chicken pox to rabies, to Ebola and Down syndrome.

“The ability to donate fetal tissue for medical research is not linked to an increase in the number of abortions practiced,” testified Dr. Aron Sousa, interim dean of the Michigan State University College of Human Medicine during a hearing on the bill in February. “It will prevent the use of tissue that would otherwise be destroyed, hindering efforts to better understand, diagnose and treat diseases."

And the ACLU is looking at whether to legally challenge the bill because it could prevent women who have had an abortion because of a medical problem with the fetus to have that tissue genetically tested to determine if future pregnancies could also be complicated.

"Hospitals and vendors wouldn't want to take the risk of transporting that tissue from a hospital to a research facility," said Shelli Weisberg, legislative liaison for the ACLU's Michigan chapter. "It's certainly a problem when something creates such a broad scope."

Pavlov said he tried to come up with language that would satisfy the university research community, “but we weren’t able to reach an agreement. The promising research they’re referencing hasn’t produced any true cures yet.”

And Sen. Patrick Colbeck, R-Canton, said it’s clear from undercover videos released last year that organizations like Planned Parenthood are selling fetal tissue.

“I heard specifically that the sale of fetal tissue doesn’t exist,” he said. “That’s at least a dubious statement. It does exist. It does occur.”

The videos, however, have largely been discredited and a Houston grand jury cleared Planned Parenthood of charges relating to the sale of fetal tissue — but issued charges against the two undercover videographers who sparked the controversy.

Democrats tried to attach amendments to the bill that would strip out the language making it a felony to transport fetal tissue to medical research facilities; make abortions less necessary by allowing women to buy birth control in 12-month rather than three-month bundles, and provide comprehensive, age-appropriate sex education in schools. But all the amendments failed.

“The only (pregnancy prevention) policy that has been proven to work is abstinence,” said Colbeck.

Young responded: “I’m all for abstinence. And if you want to have sex with someone, you should get married. But, if you’re two consenting adults who want to do the horizontal hula, that’s your business and the government should not get involved in that.”

The bills — SB 564 and 565 — now move to the House for consideration.

Contact Kathleen Gray: 313-223-4430 or kgray99@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @michpoligal