NIH ends funding of research that uses human fetal tissue from abortions

"The National Institutes of Health (NIH) will no longer fund research that uses human fetal tissue obtained from elective abortions, the world's biggest public funder of biomedical research announced on Thursday. The ban marks the latest, and most dramatic, effort by Donald Trump's administration to end research that uses fetal tissue from abortions a goal that anti-abortion advocates, who oppose the research, have sought for years."

"Jay Bhattacharya, NIH's director, suggested that the ban, which takes effect immediately, would help modernize the NIH. This decision is about advancing science by investing in breakthrough technologies more capable of modeling human health and disease, Bhattacharya said in a statement. Under President Trump's leadership, taxpayer-funded research must reflect the best science of today and the values of the American people."

"In fiscal year 2024, the organization directed almost $60m to 77 projects that involved the tissue. While NIH-funded researchers can still use fetal tissue obtained from miscarriages, scientists typically prefer to use tissue from abortions because miscarriages or spontaneous abortions can be caused by genetic or chromosomal problems that render the tissue abnormal. It is also difficult to collect usable tissue from miscarriages."

The National Institutes of Health will immediately stop funding research that uses human fetal tissue from elective abortions. The decision aligns with a long-standing objective of Donald Trump's administration to end NIH support for research using such tissue and follows earlier restrictions and reviews implemented in 2019 and reversed in 2021. NIH director Jay Bhattacharya framed the move as modernizing the agency by investing in breakthrough technologies that better model human health and disease. NIH funding for fetal-tissue projects has declined since 2019; fiscal year 2024 support totaled nearly $60 million for 77 projects. Researchers may still use tissue from miscarriages, though that tissue is often abnormal and harder to collect. Fetal tissue has been important to research on diseases like diabetes and Alzheimer's and to vaccine development for illnesses such as polio and hepatitis A.

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