Indiana fetal remains bill puts spotlight on fetal disposal

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A debate over an Indiana bill which would require aborted or miscarried fetuses to be cremated or interred is drawing attention to how fetal tissue is disposed of in the state.

Republican Senator Michael Young says the fetus provision is needed in light of state regulators’ recent fine against a medical waste disposal company that violated its state permit by accepting fetal remains.

Regulators found MedAssure of Indiana LLC violated its permit by accepting shipments of medical waste that included fetal remains from a Missouri company.

Young suggested at a news conference last week those fetal remains were “little babies.”

But a MedAssure executive says the fetal tissue the company inadvertently accepted from a St. Louis company were thumbnail-sized tissue taken from aborted fetuses for testing required by Missouri.