A rookie mistake

 
A lot of political pundits are getting their knickers in a twist over the revelation that Dr. Ben Carson did fetal tissue research over 20 years ago.  

Reality check - many conservatives are NOT against fetal tissue research when the tissue is from a miscarriage or other naturally terminated pregnancy.  

Dr. Carson, now running to be the GOP presidential candidate, should not be pilloried for doing fetal tissue research IF he was assured his material came from a naturally terminated pregnancy.

Where I do run into a problem is with Dr. Carson's first response.  It would appear - from what he describes - that no such assurance was given, nor was it apparently sought.  That, in light of his comments demonizing Planned Parenthood for its harvesting of fetal tissue, does give serious pause.  For him to dismiss his research using 17-month fetal tissue would, if it came from a voluntarily aborted pregnancy, be undeniably hypocritical.

"The GOP candidate added that he hasn’t used fetal tissue samples since the 1992 paper was published and further explained his role in dealing with the aborted tissue. 

“Bear this in mind about pathologists. Regardless of what their ideology is, when they receive tissue, they prepare the tissue. They label it. They mark how it got there,” Carson said. 

“Regardless of whether it’s from a fetus or someone who’s 150 years old, they bank them in tissue blocks. Other people doing comparative research need to have a basis. When pathologists receive specimen, their job is to prepare the specimen. They have no job opining on where the tissue came from,” Carson added. 

 

In other words, if I read him right, "I just used what they gave me.  Even if it was an intentionally aborted fetus, there's no blood on my hands because I was not informed of the source."  

If that was the situation - if it's possible the tissue could have come from an unnecessarily aborted pregnancy - Ben Carson would have been wise to own up to it right away, to make it a reason why he is now so adamantly opposed to fetal tissue research, in spite of whatever he did almost a quarter century ago.  He - or his staff - should have known the story would out & kept hold of it.  A rookie mistake.