Ever since President Clinton signed the National Institutes of Health Revitalization Act of 1993, "fetal-tissue research" has expanded into a federally subsidized multi-million dollar industry of selling human spare parts salvaged from abortions.

For example, the NIH budgeted $21 million in fiscal year 1999 for grants and awards for fetal tissue research. At the University of Washington, the NIH subsidizes the central laboratory for human embryology. According to a lab notice obtained by WorldNetDaily, it "can supply tissue from normal or abnormal embryos and fetuses of desired gestational ages between 40 days to term. Specimens are obtained within minutes of passage, and tissues are aseptically identified, staged, and immediately processed according to the requirements of individual investigators." The notice is signed by Alan G. Fantel of the department of pediatrics.

According to the international business consulting firm of Frost and Sullivan, "the worldwide market for cell lines and tissue cultures brought in nearly $428 million in corporate revenues in 1996." It is estimated this market will grow at an annual rate of 13.5 percent and by 2002 will be worth nearly $1 billion.

Two organizations that profit from this growth industry are Opening Lines, a business formerly located in West Frankfort, Illinois, and Anatomic Gift Foundation, headquartered in Laurel, Maryland. Both companies serve as wholesalers for the marketing of baby body parts to researchers, drug companies, hospitals and universities. These groups harvest the parts from abortion clinics and ship them to their customers.

Opening Lines was founded in 1997 by Dr. Miles Jones. His partner, Gayla Rose, ran the day-to-day operation. Opening Lines recently shut its business down in West Frankfort after Mark Crutcher, head of the pro-life activist organization Life Dynamics, sent a press kit on Jones' baby parts business to West Frankfort's paper, the Daily American. Managing Editor Shannon Woodworth ran a front-page cover story with the headline: "Pro-Lifers: Baby body parts sold out of West Frankfort."

Within a week after the story broke, Gayla Rose shut down the company's office and Jones disappeared. Both Opening Lines phone numbers have been disconnected. When WorldNetDaily contacted Rose at her home for an interview, she simply said, "Not interested" and hung up.

A receptionist in Jones' office in Lee Summit, Missouri, abruptly hung up on WorldNetDaily in response to an interview request.

Opening Lines' aggressive marketing
Jones' group has been more open and aggressive in its marketing of baby parts than AGF. While AGF has a soft-sell approach, the Opening Lines advertising brochure tells prospective buyers, "We can provide you with the exact tissue to meet your needs. We obtain and maintain appropriate confidential consent and basic medical histories for fetal tissue donation." Another portion of the brochure says, "Our objective is to give you the highest quality products prepared to your specifications and delivered when you need it." Opening Lines boasts of more than 1,500 deliveries of fetal parts per day.

Opening Lines provides fetal tissue researchers with a "fee for service schedule," which gives prices for each body part. For example, Opening Lines charges $150 for a spinal column; $400 for an intact embryonic cadaver; $75 for the eyeballs of an eight-week-old baby (with a 40 percent discount for a single eye); $150 for two arms or legs; and $100 for the skin of a 12-week-old baby.

Opening Lines gives credit to President Clinton for opening up the lucrative business in fetal tissue trade. According to Opening Lines, on January 22, 1993, Clinton lifted the moratorium on federal funding. "This action created a great demand for fetal tissue and has made possible the development of treatments for individuals afflicted with serious diseases and disorders," says the sales brochure.

Anatomic Gift Foundation's efforts
AGF was founded in 1994 by Jim and Brenda Bardsley in Georgia. The headquarters has since been moved to Laurel, Maryland, where Jim Bardsley's brother, Brent, is its executive director.

With offices in Arizona and Colorado, AGF's Aurora, Colorado, office is located inside the Mayfair Women's Clinic, an abortion facility. A nonprofit organization with 15 employees at present, AGF's annual budget went from $180,000 in 1994 to $2 million in 1998.

Brenda Bardsley was interviewed by World magazine not long ago. "Abortion is legal, but tragic," she said. "We see what we're doing as trying to make the best of a bad situation. We don't encourage abortion, but we see that good can come from fetal-tissue research. There is so much wonderful research going on -- research that can help save the lives of wanted children."

AGF doesn't charge per body part. It charges a flat fee per specimen. For a fresh, second trimester infant (13-24 weeks) aborted by Dilation and Extraction (D&E), AGF charges $90; for a frozen specimen, $130. AGF charges $240 for a fresh 6-40 week spontaneously aborted infant, and the fee goes up to $280 if the specimen is frozen.

Buying or selling body parts illegal
The National Organ Transplant Act was amended in 1988 to specifically prohibit the sale of fetal tissue and organs. It states, "It shall be unlawful for any person to knowingly acquire, receive, or otherwise transfer any human organ for valuable consideration for use in human transplantation if the transfer affects interstate commerce." The Fetal Tissue Act also prohibits women from aborting their infants to donate the tissue for financial gain, or to benefit a relative or friend. The law is designed to remove any personal benefit from aborting an infant.

However, Opening Lines and AGF have discovered a "legal" way to circumvent these laws. To avoid violating them, neither group "buys" nor "sells" fetal tissues and body parts. The abortion clinic "donates" fetal tissue to the wholesaler who then "donates" the tissue to the research facility.

In order to compensate the abortion clinic for its services, the wholesaler will rent space in the clinic for its own personnel to harvest the baby body parts. AGF's on-site office at the Mayfair Women's Clinic in Aurora, Colorado, helps "pay" for the fetal tissue.

The wholesaler then donates the tissue to the researcher or university, but charges processing fees. According to Crutcher, as long as the wholesaler's processing fee is higher than his rental fee to the abortion clinic, he's making money.