Mr. Robert M. Doughty III
President, University of New Mexico Board of Regents
MSC05 3200 1 University of New Mexico
Albuquerque, New Mexico 87131
Chaouki T. Abdallah
Acting President, University of New Mexico
MSC05 3300
1 University of New Mexico
Albuquerque, NM 87131
Dear President Abdallah and Mr. Doughty,
We, the undersigned members of the University of New Mexico community, ask that you
immediately halt our school’s participation in collecting, using, and distributing aborted baby
body parts. We find it unconscionable that the university we love so much would be part of this
barbaric practice. All human beings ought to be treated with respect and dignity.
An extensive Congressional investigation completed by the Select Investigative Panel on Infant
Lives found violations of and concerns that to date, the University has taken no correction action
to address:
* Five violations of federal statute, two New Mexico statutes, and two federal regulations;
*The disturbing intensity that UNM hospital and medical school staff have aggressively engaged
in to expand abortion in New Mexico through the offices, personnel, and resources of UNM—to
the point where UNM is now a late-term abortion provider in both its hospital and clinic;
*The violations under the Spradling Act and 42 USC 289 g 2. UNM received body parts from a
local abortion clinic, Southwestern Women’s Options, in exchange for services, a violation of
federal statute 42 USC 289 g 2. The exchange of any remains of aborted babies, whether donated
or sold, is illegal in New Mexico under the Spradling Act. The university and abortion clinic
have been referred by the Congressional Panel to Attorney General Hector Balderas for criminal
prosecution.
*The lack of proper consent. UNM and SWWO were not properly obtaining consent from
women to use the remains of their babies for research.
There is a host of not only highly questionable practices and ethical concerns, like the use of
seven-month old aborted infant brains to dissect with summer camp students but additional
evidence of multiple violations of both federal and state statutes, UNM’s own policy and federal
regulation.
We ask that you conduct an investigation into the use of aborted baby parts at UNM to determine
if any further wrongdoing has occurred and to fully comply with any further criminal or
Congressional investigations. The reputation of our school and all those associated with it is at
stake. We cannot be complicit in fetal harvesting anymore.
While we value and encourage medical research into life-saving treatments, the simple fact is
that fetal tissue of aborted babies has not been and is not necessary for life-saving treatment or
disease research.
UNM has come to depend on the use of tissue for research from babies aborted later in
pregnancy in order to pursue their unethical research objectives for "extremely premature
infants." It is likely women may be pressured to abort their infants to fuel the need for tissue.
The university could continue to pursue its mission without using unlawfully obtained tissue and
body parts from aborted babies.
If UNM does not immediately halt all harvesting of the remains of aborted babies, we will
continue to alert our fellow students, donors, alumni, and parents that the school is involved in
potentially illegal, and certainly immoral, activity, and encourage donors and alumni to cease
donating to the university.
We care too much about our university community to allow it to be dragged down by the
abortion industry.
Sincerely,
Students for Life at UNM
Cc:
Ms. Marron Lee, Vice President, UNM Board of Regents
Mr. Jack L. Fortner, Secretary Treasurer, UNM Board of Regents
Dr. Thomas Clifford, UNM Board of Regents
Lt. General Bradley C. Hosmer, USAF (Ret.), UNM Board of Regents
Ms. Suzanne Quillen, UNM Board of Regents
Mr. Ryan Berryman, UNM Board of Regents
APPENDIX
The reckless and negligent conduct of UNM Health Sciences Center’s top officials have put the
entire University system at risk, for contempt of Congress charges, which carries criminal
sanctions, along with the multiple violations of federal regulations, and both federal and state
statutes. There have been systemic violations which have been identified, ongoing for years. To
date, UNM has offered to make no corrective action or good faith effort to bring about
accountability to the taxpayers of New Mexico.
Systemic Violations
There is evidence of violations of the following statutes in collaboration with fetal tissue research
activities with Southwestern Women’s Options late-term abortion clinic:
2 NM statutes, 5 violations of federal statute, 2 federal regulations cited by the Select Panel
Violations of N.M. Stat. Ann. § 24-6B-2 , § 24-6B-3, the Jonathan Spradling Revised Uniform
Anatomical Gift Act : All anatomical gifts made in New Mexico must comply with the Spradling
Act, and the Act prohibits the provision of aborted infants and their parts as anatomical gifts.
42 U.S.C. § 289g-2 (a) It shall be unlawful for any person to knowingly acquire, receive, or
otherwise transfer any human fetal tissue for valuable consideration if the transfer affects
interstate commerce.
42 U.S.C. § 289g-2 (e)(3) The term “valuable consideration” does not include reasonable
payments associated with the transportation, implantation, processing, preservation, quality
control, or storage of human fetal tissue.
42 U.S.C. § 289g-2 (d) Criminal penalties for violations
(1) In general: Any person who violates subsection (a), (b), or (c) shall be fined in accordance
with title 18, subject to paragraph (2), or imprisoned for not more than 10 years, or both.
(2) Penalties applicable to persons receiving consideration
With respect to the imposition of a fine under paragraph (1), if the person involved violates
subsection (a) or (b)(3), a fine shall be imposed in an amount not less than twice the amount of
the valuable consideration received.
42 U.S.C. § 289g-1 (b)(I) requires written consent from the woman acknowledging the nature of
the research, the lack of "restriction regarding the identity of individuals who may be the
recipients of transplantation of the tissue,"
42 U.S.C. § 289g-1 (b)(2)(A)(i) requires the abortion consent to be "obtained prior to requesting
or obtaining consent for a donation of the tissue
N.M. Stat. Ann. § 24-9A-5, which is part of the Maternal, Fetal and Infant Experimentation Act,
prohibits any "clinical research activity involving fetuses, live-born infants or pregnant women"
unless the woman has been fully informed of the following:
(1) a fair explanation of the procedures to be followed and their purposes, including
identification of any procedures which are experimental;
(2) a description of any attendant discomforts and risks reasonably to be expected; (3) a
description of any benefits reasonably to be expected;
(4) a disclosure of any appropriate alterative procedures that might be advantageous for the
subject;
(5) an offer to answer any inquiries concerning the procedure; and
(6) an instruction that the person who gave the consent is free to withdraw his consent and to
discontinue participation in the project or activity at any time without prejudice to the subject.2o
45 C.F.R. § 46.116- failure to provide informed consent to women accompanied by a violation of
45 C.F.R. § 46.117 – failure to provide informed consent in writing for women donating fetal
tissue research
UNM’s Deception
When asked by New Mexico legislators for records of aborted infant body parts kept by UNM
Health Science Center (HSC), NM Legislators were informed by UNM HSC officials that no
records were available as UNM was not required by law to keep any records.
UNM HSC officials also stated publicly on December 20, 2015, as printed in the ABQ Journal,
they had “no documents to show how much fetal tissue is sent from [abortionist Curtis] Boyd’s
[late-term abortion clinic] nor how often.”
Seven months later, UNM provided the congressional Select Panel on Infant Lives six years’
worth of documents recording “how much,” and “how often” fetal tissue was obtained from the
Boyd clinic and more …with horrifying notations including:
“entire pancreas- whoo hoo” with a smiley face next to it
“stomach broken- no panc” with a frowning face
“30.5 wks” baby who was “intact – did not dissect.” “Twins = 1 w/ clubbed feet” are mentioned,
and the weight of their brains calculated.
"BROKEN FOOT: CLINIC VERIFIED 16 weeks"
·"12.3 week, Skin from back/shoulder"
"20 wk twins – intact brains, 24 wk dig. head not intact"
· fetal brains custom ordered by UNM researchers: “Asked clinic for digoxin treated tissue 24-28
wks. for methylation study & because [redacted] wants whole, fixed brains to dissect w/ summer
camp students" - 5/24/12
Jessica Duran Lawsuit
Additionally, scandal ridden late-term abortion business Southwestern Women’s Options, in
collaboration with the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center has been negligent and
conducted unconscionable trade practices, exploiting women in order to harvest aborted babies
bodies for experimental research, without proper consent.
A lawsuit was been filed in New Mexico in December 2016 against the SWWO late-term
abortion facility by Jessica Duran, which addresses 7 counts of wrongdoing and negligence
including:
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unfair and deceptive trade practices
unconscionable trade practices
negligent informed consent
violation New Mexico statute 24 9a-1-7, the Maternal, Fetal and Experimentation Act
negligent supervision of physicians at Southwestern Women’s Options
intentional infliction of emotional distress
breech of contract
Jessica belongs to a protected class of persons, that the NM consent law was designed to protect
from deceptive practices and keep these women fully informed, so they would not have to suffer
emotional and physical distress as Jessica has suffered. Abortionist Curtis Boyd was negligent
and intentionally disregarded the law.