President Donald Trump and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. are defunding scientific research that uses aborted fetal tissue. According to Breitbart News, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has still been funding 17 grants that use aborted fetal tissue for testing and research. Most of those programs were initiated under then-President Joe Biden but are scheduled to continue being funded through 2026. However, NIH told Breitbart News that the health agency will not renew the problematic grants.
“NIH takes this issue very seriously and remains committed to the highest ethical standards in research. The referenced grants, initiated under the Biden administration, will not be renewed,” the agency said in an email. “NIH is guided by a commitment to valuing human life and ensuring that federally funded research is conducted responsibly and transparently. We are actively reviewing these matters and will take all necessary steps to ensure our policies reflect that commitment.”
In 2024 alone, the 17 grants received a combined total of $22 million. Several of the grants have funded implanting aborted human fetal tissue into animals, including implanting aborted human fetal thymus and liver tissue into mice or rats. RFK Jr. pledged during his confirmation to end the use of aborted fetal tissue in research.
In comments to The Washington Stand, Mary Szoch, director of the Center for Human Dignity at Family Research Council, said, “The Biden administration had no qualms about violating the dignity of human beings — especially those whose lives ended in the womb. There are loads of questions that should be asked about the government-funded research on these aborted babies, including whether abortion facilities were paid for these body parts.” She continued, “America is so blessed to now have a God-fearing president in office whose administration is actively working to rid America of the evils committed by the Biden-Harris administration.” Szoch added, “Let us pray for the Trump-Vance administration to continue courageously working to ensure that, in America, the dignity of the unborn is respected.”
The NIH has a surprisingly lengthy history of funding research using fetal tissue, beginning with vaccine research in the 1950s. Particularly in the 1960s, fetal tissue from abortions was used to develop the polio vaccine. Safeguards put in place following the U.S. Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision in 1973 made research using aborted fetal tissue more difficult, but not impossible. President Ronald Reagan halted the use of aborted fetal tissue during his tenure in the White House, but President Bill Clinton revived the practice, which continued under Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama. During his first term, Trump put a stop to the use of aborted fetal tissue in scientific research, but Biden did away with those safeguards.
