January 1, NIH Ends Funding for Aborted Baby Body Parts Research

Wyatt’s Take

• NIH stops using tax money for research with aborted baby tissue.
• Pro-life advocates see this as a historic win for protecting life.
• New policies aim to fund modern, ethical research methods.

Taxpayer dollars will no longer be used for research involving aborted baby body parts. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced it will cut funds to any programs experimenting with fetal tissue from elective abortions.

The NIH called this move “a significant milestone” in efforts to modernize science. The new rules affect all NIH-supported research and funding contracts going forward.

“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,” said NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya.

Pro-life supporters have fought for decades to stop taxpayer funding of experiments using aborted babies. The March for Life event this weekend in Washington, D.C. celebrates a major victory for those defending the unborn.

Debate over this issue has stretched across several presidencies. Despite millions spent over the years, pro-lifers continued rallying for change until today’s shift in policy.

Concerns about fetal tissue research grew after undercover footage in 2015 exposed Planned Parenthood staff discussing how they handled aborted baby parts. The videos, held from the public for years, brought new attention to the ongoing practices.

Though California ended its prosecution of the journalists behind the footage last year, the federal government still allowed funding for such research until this latest decision. Reports had shown Americans’ tax dollars were used for controversial experiments on fetal tissue.

Recently, the Biden administration reversed earlier bans, letting government workers use tax money for studies involving fetal tissue from abortions. The NIH says projects using this tissue “declined steadily since 2019,” but 77 such projects were funded as of 2024.

The NIH’s announcement says, “The updated policy ensures that limited public resources are directed toward research approaches that offer the greatest potential to improve health outcomes for all Americans.”

Tax money will still support research with tissue from stillborn babies or miscarriages, but not from elective abortions.

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Wyatt Matters

Hardworking Americans want their money spent on research that respects life and family values, not on experiments many find deeply troubling. Standing up for the unborn is part of standing up for what makes our communities strong.