NIH Ends Federal Funding for Research Using Aborted Fetal Tissue
The National Institutes of Health announced Thursday that it will end all federal funding for research projects that use tissue obtained from elective abortions, marking a significant shift in U.S. biomedical policy and reigniting a long-running ethical debate within the scientific community.
Under the new policy, the prohibition applies broadly across NIH grants, cooperative agreements, transaction awards, research and development contracts, and the agency’s internal research programs. The change affects all current and future NIH-funded work involving tissue derived specifically from aborted fetuses.
NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya said the move reflects both advances in biomedical technology and the administration’s emphasis on aligning federally funded research with widely held public values.
“This decision is about advancing science by investing in breakthrough technologies more capable of modeling human health and disease,” Bhattacharya said, adding that taxpayer-funded research should reflect “the best science of today and the values of the American people.”
Declining Use, Rising Alternatives
According to NIH data, the agency funded 77 research projects using human fetal tissue during fiscal year 2024—a number that has steadily declined since 2019. That downward trend has coincided with rapid progress in alternative research platforms, including organoids, tissue chips, advanced computational biology, and synthetic cellular models.
Supporters of the policy argue that these technologies now offer more precise, scalable, and ethically neutral ways to study human development and disease, reducing any scientific dependence on fetal tissue obtained through abortion.
Bhattacharya emphasized that the change does not restrict all fetal tissue research. Tissue donated following miscarriages remains permissible under NIH guidelines, provided it is not linked to elective abortion procedures.
“The only ban is on tissue obtained through an abortion specifically to terminate the baby,” he said. “That distinction matters ethically and scientifically.”
Ethics and Public Trust in Science
The use of aborted fetal tissue has been a contentious issue in U.S. research policy for decades, spanning multiple administrations. Critics have argued that such research places large segments of the public in a moral dilemma—particularly when funded with taxpayer dollars.
Bhattacharya framed the issue as one of public trust and scientific accessibility.
“If there are large numbers of people who say, ‘If you go down this line, I’m not going to participate,’ then what good is the research?” he asked.
The announcement arrives just one day before the annual March for Life in Washington, D.C., an event that routinely draws attention to abortion policy, biomedical ethics, and the intersection of science and public values.
A Broader Policy Shift
The decision aligns with broader efforts under Donald Trump’s administration to reshape federal research priorities, emphasizing technological innovation while reducing reliance on ethically controversial methods. Similar restrictions were previously enacted during Trump’s first term, reversed under the Biden administration, and are now being reinstated with updated scientific justification.
Whether the policy change will significantly alter the trajectory of biomedical research remains to be seen. What is clear is that NIH leadership is betting that next-generation research tools can deliver both scientific progress and broader public legitimacy—without reopening one of the most divisive ethical fault lines in modern medicine.