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Committee hears wide-ranging debate on bill to ban sale of human bodies and fetal tissue
Summary
Senate Bill 154 would ban sale or purchase of whole human bodies and fetal tissue while preserving donations. Proponents cited federal invoices and alleged markets for fetal tissue; medical educators and research groups urged narrowly tailored exceptions for cadaver transport and established cell lines.
The House Judiciary Committee heard competing testimony Monday on Senate Bill 154, a proposal to prohibit the sale or purchase of whole human bodies and fetal tissue in Montana while preserving the ability to donate organs and cadavers for medical use.
Senator Daniel Emmerich, sponsor of SB154, said the bill would expand the Revised Uniform Anatomical Gift Act to close what supporters called a legal loophole allowing commercial transactions. "It prohibits the sale of fetal tissue, and then it also prohibits the sale of whole human bodies," Emmerich told the committee, while stressing that donation would remain permitted.
Multiple pro-life and faith-based groups urged passage, citing national reports…
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