Trump admin ends federal funding of medical research on abortion remains in pro-life win  

The National Institutes of Health has ended federally funded research on aborted baby remains, marking a major policy shift. 

“NIH is pushing American biomedical science into the 21st century,” NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya said in a release Thursday. “This decision is about advancing science by investing in breakthrough technologies more capable of modeling human health and disease. Under President Trump’s leadership, taxpayer-funded research must reflect the best science of today and the values of the American people.” 

While the statement didn’t explicitly recognize the life of unborn children, it did acknowledge the “ethical concerns” many pro-life Americans hold against this practice. The announcement came on the eve of the annual March for Life in Washington, D.C.  

“Victory for life! The Trump administration has ended federal funding for research using tissue from aborted babies,” Catholic Vote wrote in a post on X. “Taxpayer dollars will no longer support the exploitation of the unborn. A step toward protecting the most vulnerable and advancing ethical science.” 

In an interview with Daily Wire editor emeritus Ben Shapiro, Bhattacharya recalled how many Americans faced an ethical dilemma during the COVID-19 pandemic because of the use of embryonic stem cell research to develop certain coronavirus vaccines. He said he sympathized with their conscience, saying he also finds the use of aborted fetal remains “morally abhorrent.”  

Bhattacharya clarified that donated fetal remains – from a miscarriage for instance– can still be used in research, but human tissue remains from abortions are outlawed for scientific research. This policy governs both the NIH Intramural Research Program, within the United States, and extramural research – outside the country – including grants, cooperative agreements, transaction awards and research or development contracts, according to the release.  

The use of aborted fetal remains in scientific research has steadily declined since 2019, with only 77 federally funded projects in Fiscal Year 2024, the release said. The end of this research is primarily due to the advancing technology such as “organoids, tissue chips and computational biology.”  

“This action supersedes prior NIH guidance and reflects a clear shift toward next-generation, validated research models better suited to today’s rapidly evolving scientific landscape,” the release states.  

The institutes promised to continue to accelerate innovation and develop technologies to “reduce reliance on outdated research models” and “replace reliance on human embryonic stem cells in an effort to continue to drive modernization.” 

“This policy update underscores the Administration’s commitment to scientific excellence and responsible stewardship of taxpayer dollars, helping to ensure that America remains the global leader in biomedical innovation while reflecting the values of the people it serves,” the release said.