Baby Body Parts Traffickers to be Deported to Ecuador

Steven Mosher
February 28, 2019
Reproduced with Permission
Population Research Institute

The brothers Roberto and William Isaías were arrested by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Service on February 13th. The spokesman for ICE, Nestor Yglesias, indicated that the brothers were "illegally present" in the United States. They will be deported to Ecuador, where they are wanted for various crimes.

But the Isaias family also has a criminal record in the State of California. They are linked to a scandal of selling human organs and tissues, particularly those of aborted babies, which they trafficked internationally. Now that they are being returned to Ecuador, one wonders if they will try and start a similar business there.

Planned Parenthood clinics in the U.S. have been accused of trafficking in baby body parts. Those who promote the legalization of abortion in Ecuador gloss over the fact that, while abortion may be legal in the U.S., other crimes continue to occur. What would be the fate of the bodies of aborted Ecuadorian babies, if abortion is legalized there. Will they be they be sold like cuts of beef at a butcher's shop to the highest international bidder? This is what happened in America. Will women's lives be put at risk so that the organ buyers can obtain the "freshest" tissue possible? Will Ecuadorian abortionists attempt to hide this immoral practice as Planned Parenthood directors did in the United States?

In 2017 the District Attorney for the Country of Orange, California sued two companies: Da Vinci Biosciences, LLC and DV Biologics, both founded and managed by Estéfano Isaías and their children Andrés Isaías and Estéfano Isaías Jr., for the illegal trafficking of body parts. The parties reached a settlement agreement for $7.8 million and ordered the closure and termination of the operations of both companies. Andres Isaias, son of Estefano Isaias, was listed as President of both companies, while his father and brother Estéfano Isaias Jr. were in charge of financial decisions and accounting management. Luis Isaiah, son of Robert Isaiah, was also involved with these companies.

Da Vinci Biosciences began its operations in 2008 as a laboratory exclusively dedicated to the development and research with stem cells for the treatment of diseases. In March 2009 it began to operate DV Biologics LLC as the lucrative branch of the family business, sharing facilities, capital, inventory and hired personnel. In 2012, the company The Bio Box LLC, directed by Andrés Isaías, was also incorporated which functioned as a stem cell bank or laboratory. In the state of California it is permissible to conduct scientific research with stem cells and the stem-cell-based market is valued at several billion dollars. (Orange County District Attorney News Release Tony Rackauckas, District Attorney)

Between 2009 and 2011, companies practically tripled their profits from sales of tissues and human organs to pharmaceutical companies and academic institutions around the world through a network of distributors. By the end of 2011, the defendants had illegally sold tissues and cells of aborted babies to Japan, China, Singapore, South Korea, Germany, Switzerland, Spain, Australia, the Netherlands, Canada and the United Kingdom. In 2012 alone the companies had an inventory of 500 products with more than 13,000 units available for sale, and the inventory was valued at $4.4 million.

Da Vinci Biosciences bills show prices of $350 per fetal liver, $500 per fetal thymus gland and $1,100 per fetal brain cells. The company practiced tax evasion as well. Research by District Attorney Tony Rackauckas found that the majority of prenatal sales generated a profit margin of more than 70%, "star" products such as the sale of prenatal renal fibroblasts, whose price per unit amounted to $375, which generated profit margins of 1,000%.

The legal settlement of $7.8 million corresponded to the assessed value of the companies, and further required that all biological samples, tissues and cells of adults that made up their inventory be donated to an academic and scientific institution affiliated with a prestigious medical school in the United States. The defendants also had to donate and transfer the laboratory storage containers and other equipment worth more than $10,000. Finally, DV Biologics had to pay the County $195,000 in civil penalties.

This legal process represents the first successful prosecution of a company selling human organs in the U.S. It followed the release of videos by the Center for Medical Progress (CMP) in 2015 under its "Human Capital Project." The videos showed top executives of Planned Parenthood discussing the sale of tissues and organs of babies aborted in a very graphic way and with grotesque details.

This research brought to public light the fact that for eight consecutive years, the Planned Parenthood branches of Orange and San Bernardino counties in California, supplied hearts, lungs, brains, and intestines of aborted babies to DV Biologics. In exchange for providing parts of aborted babies, Planned Parenthood received substantial contributions from DaVinci Biosciences. Note that Planned Parenthood Orange & San Bernardino Counties' 2008 Annual Report lists Da Vinci Biosciences as one of their largest "donors."

Under California law, the purchase or sale of tissue or organs of embryos or fetuses is illegal, unjust, and fraudulent practice. Under United States Federal Law, it is illegal to acquire, receive, or transfer any fetal human tissue in interstate commerce and the crime punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a fine of more than $500,000. Fetal human tissue is considered to be tissue or cells obtained from a dead human embryo or fetus after a spontaneous or induced abortion.

In order to stay in the U.S., the Isaias family made hundreds of thousands of dollars in contributions to the Democratic and Republican political campaigns, in what became known as the Clinton Scandal "Pay for Play." Members of the Isaias family delivered $300,000 directly to Democratic politicians including Hillary Clinton through the intermediation of Cheryl Mills, according to The New York Times. In return, the family received favorable treatment from the U.S. administration of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton's Department of State, which allowed them entry into the U.S. and later political asylum. Extradition requests from the government of Ecuador were ignored.

"The abortion industry has shown one of its most perverse sides with the trafficking of fetal body parts," says Carlos Polo, Director of the Population Research Institute Office in Latin America.

"The videos produced by Center for Medical Progress leave nothing to the imagination," Polo says, "Senior officers of Planned Parenthood commercialized the organs of aborted fetuses. Through American TV stations, we have witnessed that they wanted Lamborghinis, they hid all this business from women and they put their lives at risk by altering abortion procedures to get fresher organs."

"The involvement of the Isaiah brothers in trafficking of fetal parts and the bill to decriminalize abortion in Ecuador make that world of madness and cruelty a step closer to becoming a reality in Latin American countries," Polo says.

The Center for Medical Progress' journalistic investigation has elevated the investigation of the illegal trafficking and sale of organs by Planned Parenthood to the U.S. Congress, including the Senate Judicial Committee and the House of Representatives Select Investigative Panel on Infant Lives. Both have corroborated the allegations and have uncovered systematic violations of the law by the "Body Parts" Programme and IPPF partner companies. These entities are currently under investigation by the FBI and the U.S. Department of Justice. In the case of the member companies of Planned Parenthood, "Da Vinci" was the first to be prosecuted as a result of the successful journalistic investigation of the Center for Medical Progress through a series of 7 videos. (House of Representatives Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, July 15, 2015 Press Release)

The Trump administration is making important strides in defunding Planned Parenthood. But it is not enough to simply take public monies away from the organization. Investigations into the sale of aborted babes must continue. For the practice has been enabled by a network of greedy politicians, and underpinned by a complete lack of respect for the dignity of unborn human life. Ecuadorians and Americans should band together to jointly defend and protect human life.

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