Metro Right to life seeks to oust Carhart
■ The anti-abortion
group has initiated
action that would^end
the abortion provider’s
employment at UNMC.
By Melanie Mensch
Staff writer
Anti-abortion group Metro
Right to Life hopes a new state
law will aid it in the removal of
Nebraska’s only doctor to per
form partial-birth abortions
from the faculty at University of
Nebraska Medical Center in
Omaha.
At a press conference held
July 10, the organization
announced a bold strategy using
the state public disclosure law to
investigate what president Bob
Blank called an “illegal relation
ship” between Leroy Carhart
and UNMC. The law, LB628,
which becomes effective this
week, requires public officials to
provide copies of public records
within four days of a request.
Blank said he planned to
send a list of questions to
UNMC officials every day five
days a week until he received
information needed to have
Carhart fired. If UNMC offi
cials refused to supply answers,
Blank said he would then get
state attorney general Don
Stenberg to pursue the informa
tion.
“Carhart is only there (at
UNMC) to provide fetal tissue
for research,” he said. “Our com
plaint is that he has faculty sta
tus, which means he has benefits
like preferential football seating
and faculty prices, access to
UNMC’s library and secretarial
services, which is illegal. Once
we determine that Leroy Carhart
has utilized these benefits, we
want to remove him from the
UNMC faculty.”
The organization said
Carhart’S access to faculty bene
fits violates a federal law called
103-43, which prohibits the
exchange of fetal tissue for
“valuable consideration.”
Carhart, who has worked at
UNMC since 1982, said the
organization was desperate after
suffering recent court losses on
the abortion issue.
“I think they’re grasping at
straws,” he said. “They are try
ing to destroy public officials
and cause political unrest
because they are dissatisfied
that our political viewpoints
don’t align with theirs.”
Not only does Metro Right to
Life want the removal of Carhart
from UNMC’s faculty, the
organization also hopes to
remove Regents who support
fetal tissue research, to stop the
use of fetal tissue in research and
end all affiliations with abortion
providers at UNMC.
“We want to get the universi
ty out of the abortion business,”
Blank said.
Blank said the organization
has sent UNMC a list of option
{{ The medical center is making a
great impact with diseases like
AIDS and Alzheimer's with this
research. Actually; some women
who had abortions said they felt
better knowing their aborted
fetuses would be donated for
research.”
Dr. Leroy Carhart
abortion provider
al methods to get the neurons
needed to research diseases like
Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and
AIDS, but the center continues
to use fetal tissue.
Carhart said he hoped more
pro-abortion Nebraskans would
use their voting powers so the
medical center could make med
ical achievements in the future.
“Abortions and research are
two separate issues,” he said.
“We’ve looked at the science
and we’ve looked at the morals. I
think it’s ludicrous that these
groups are trying to control
Congress and wasting taxpay
ers’ money.
“The medical center is mak
ing a great impact with diseases
like AIDS and Alzheimer’s with
this research. Actually, some
women who had abortions said
they felt better knowing their
aborted fetuses would be donat
ed for research.”
Blank said fetal tissue
research negatively influenced a
woman’s decision about abor
tion.
“If abortion and research are
two separate issues,” he said,
“why do we have partial birth
abortions? He (Carhart) is only
on staff to provide the tissue.
Making abortions available and
knowing it will go toward
research will encourage and
affect a woman’s decision to
abort a baby.”
Blank said the organization
would diligently work on its
threefold purpose and alert the
public of UNMC’s usage of fetal
tissue in research.
Carhart, however, said the
organization’s strategy held no
proof of any “illegal relation
ship.”
“I’m not worried at all about
my job,” he said. “They couldn’t
do it without grounds, which
there are none. The ‘if’ question
doesn’t exist.”
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