Police on Tuesday would not comment on the activists’ account. They said previously they were investigating the actions of activists as well as whether proper procedures were followed in disposal of the remains. City health officials did not respond to requests for comment.
The medical waste services company, in a statement, said that on March 25 one of its employees “took custody of three packages” from the clinic and delivered all of them to the company’s incineration facility. “At no time did the Curtis Bay employee hand over any of these packages to the PAAU or other third party, and any allegations made otherwise are false,” the statement read.
the largest and stored them in the refrigerator at Handy’s Southeast apartment. She said while the fetuses were there, she slept elsewhere. The activists said they want authorities to evaluate whether any of the fetuses may have been aborted in violation of federal laws, which restrict when a pregnant person can have an abortion procedure known as intact dilation and extraction and extend legal rights to fetuses that survive abortions.
Jane Turner, a retired professor at St. Louis University School of Medicine and a medical examiner for 18 years in St. Louis, said an autopsy “would not likely determine whether the fetuses were live born.” Turner said that, depending on how the fetuses were stored, either by the clinic after the abortion or by the activists, there are risks of postmortem contamination that might cloud any determination.
The cold room contains specimens of fetuses with birth defects and other anomalies donated to the school since the 1960s.