Newsletter: House Continues Push to End Fetal Organ Harvesting

Statement

The series of videos that exposed the practice of selling fetal organs has horrified our nation. In response, the House of Representatives has acted, voting on Friday to strengthen culture of life by passing two key pieces of legislation:

H.R. 3134 -- Withdrawing federal funding for Planned Parenthood.
H.R. 3504 -- Increasing penalties for health care providers who fail to exercise the proper degree of care in the case of a child who survives an abortion.

No matter where we are from or what political party we belong to, as Americans, everyone deep down knows this is wrong.

That's why I've introduced the Pro-LIFE Act, which makes it illegal to sell fetal organs for profit or to cover expenses and closes the loophole that is being exploited to traffic fetal organs. Doing so removes any incentive for an organization to do this again. I will continue to work to build on the support of already 58 of my colleagues in the House of Representatives and put an end to this barbaric practice.

University of Kansas Medical Center

In an effort to learn more about the importance of life-saving research funded by the National Institutes of Health, I was honored to visit with Dr. Roy Jensen, Dr. Douglas Girod, Dr. Russell Swerdlow, Dr. Richard Barohn, and Dr. Jeff Burns at the Heartland Institute for Clinical and Translational Research at the University of Kansas Medical Center last week.

In areas like Alzheimer's alone, accelerating research could have an enormous impact. According to a recent report by the Alzheimer's Association, finding a drug treatment for memory loss could save families and the government $935 billion over 10 years. This is based on the group's projection that by 2050, 13.5 million Americans will have the disease, with total medical and long-term care costs exceeding $1 trillion. That's why I voted in July to pass the 21st Century Cures Act and increase funding at NIH by over $8 billion over the next five years. This team at the KUMC is making great strides to translate basic science achievements into cures and therapies that patients can actually use, and we need to make sure they have the funding to continue to do so.

Also, thank you to local members of the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology student and faculty group who also took the time to meet with me at the University of Kansas Medical Center. These promising young clinical researchers depend on federal and private grant funds to discover new medical breakthroughs and bring these cures and therapies to the market faster. They represent the future for biomedical research and I will continue to work at the federal level on their behalf.

Alzheimer's Association

Last week, I visited the Alzheimer's Association - Heart of America Chapter based in Prairie Village. Thank you to Michelle Niedens, Director of Education, Programs and Public Policy and the many staff and volunteers who took the time to share their important work and advocacy with me.

More than five million Americans are living with Alzheimer's disease, the sixth-leading cause of death in the United States. The Alzheimer's Association - Heart of America Chapter serves 66 counties in Kansas and Missouri and is a resource for vital information, education, training, support programs and services to more than 50,000 individuals and nearly 200,000 family members. I will continue to support federal research funding through the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to ultimately find a cure for the devastating diseases that touch so many families.

Gift of Life

I especially enjoyed spending time in the classroom at Blue Valley Southwest High School with Kim Harbur, Co-Founder, and Keith Anderson, Executive Director, at Gift of Life to hear more about the successful organ donation awareness building program, Life Savers. Life Savers empowers local high school students to talk to their families about the value of organ and tissue donation. I have been working in Congress to increase the number of organ donations across the United States and the Life Savers program is an important part of this effort.

Thank you to Principal Scott Roberts and Teacher and Coach Rick Rhoades, for sharing their health class last week.

ALS Association

Last week, I visited the The ALS Association Mid-America Chapter in Mission to discuss the importance of federal funding for biomedical research and how Congress is acting to help. ALS, more commonly-known as Lou Gehrig's Disease, is one of the thousands of diseases that researchers are working towards finding a cure with the help of grant funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). In July, I was proud to support the 21st Century Cures Act, which provides over $8 billion in funding to NIH over the next five years.

Thank you to Executive Director Colleen Wachter and Director of Programs & Services Sally Dwyer and the many advocates from the The ALS Association for their work to raise awareness and find a cure for this fatal disease.

Crestview Elementary Groundbreaking

What an exciting morning at Shawnee Mission School District's groundbreaking for Crestview Elementary in Merriam last week. After more than 60 years of history, the school is being rebuilt for future generations. We joined over 330 students including the fabulous Crestview Cougar Choir, staff, teachers, community leaders, state officials, Principal John Bartel and Superintendent Dr. Jim Hinson to kick off this new chapter.

As Principal Bartel said, "Epic isn't easy," and this will be an epic journey. Thank you to all who made this possible.

Friends of the National Library of Medicine

Last week, I was honored to receive the Paul G. Rogers Award from the Friends of the National Library of Medicine (FNLM) for my efforts to open up access, create opportunities for collaboration for life-saving medical research, and to save money by making all federally funded research open and accessible to all taxpayers through the Fair Access to Science Research and Technology (FASTR) Act. Taxpayers shouldn't have to pay twice for research.

Thank you to FNLM Chairman Glen Campbell for hosting me at the dinner and Acting Director Betsy Humphreys for presenting me with the award.

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