Trump admin to end federal funding for aborted fetal tissue research

The Trump administration is aiming to stop the Biden-approved federal funding of aborted fetal tissue research, citing ethical problems with issuing $22 million in grants for the research.

David Prentice, a researcher and professor, wrote for National Right to Life that the administration’s approach to fetal tissue research overhauls Biden-era policies that had removed the restrictions President Donald Trump placed on funding the research in his first term. 

In 2019 and 2020, the Trump administration canceled a research contract, imposed limits on taxpayer funding for the research, and required an ethics advisory board to review fetal tissue grant proposals, Prentice wrote.

The administration has the support of the House of Representatives’ Labor Health and Human Services Appropriations Committee’s current funding bill. According to Prentice, the National Institutes of Health reportedly stated in an email that it takes the issue of fetal tissue research “very seriously and remains committed to the highest ethical standards in research” and that it is “guided by a commitment to valuing human life and ensuring that federally funded research is conducted responsibly and transparently.”

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., is supportive of protecting tax dollars from funding fetal tissue research and has called for researchers to use stem cells instead of fetal tissue.

Proponents of fetal tissue research have claimed for years that using the body parts of aborted babies is necessary for research and lifesaving health care remedies, but Prentice pointed out that “after one-hundred years of transplant attempts with fetal tissue, not a single cure has resulted.”

“The vacuous scientific claims for aborted fetal tissue research have been amply refuted in Congressional hearings, scientific papers, and popular press articles. A comprehensive review of the science, ethics, and alternatives regarding aborted fetal tissue makes it abundantly clear that such research is a failure,” he added. “Funding this unmitigated disaster with more taxpayer dollars is not only a moral trespass but also diverts funds from valid scientific research that truly helps patients.”