The Trump administration will block government scientists from acquiring new fetal tissue from abortions to use in medical research, a major victory for abortion opponents.
"Promoting the dignity of human life from conception to natural death is one of the very top priorities of President Trump’s administration," the Department of Health and Human Services said in a statement Wednesday that announced the change.
The decision comes after months of speculation, as well as backlash from anti-abortion groups that demanded President Trump fire the head of the National Institutes of Health, Dr. Francis Collins, for saying that research using fetal tissue could provide useful study for treatments of devastating illnesses.
The ban applies to scientists at NIH, the government's medical research agency. HHS, which is the NIH's parent agency, in September had already asked most government scientists to temporarily halt the acquisition of new fetal tissue while it reviewed the issue.
It does not apply to outside groups that receive NIH grants to conduct their research, though HHS did announce it would not be renewing a multi-million dollar contract with the University of California, San Francisco, that used fetal tissue in HIV research.
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04.20.2024