In a stunning turn of events, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has declared it will no longer renew over a dozen grants tied to research using human fetal tissue, signaling a major shift in federal science policy.
Breitbart reported that this decision, spurred by intense scrutiny from watchdog groups and conservative lawmakers, follows revelations of millions in taxpayer funds supporting controversial experiments, often involving animal testing with tissue from aborted babies.
Let’s rewind to 2019, when President Donald Trump first took a stand against this kind of research by banning new funding for projects using fetal tissue and halting all in-house NIH studies of this nature.
That policy, while not axing existing projects, slashed NIH spending on fetal tissue research by half, according to White Coat Waste Project (WCW), a bipartisan group dedicated to exposing government-funded animal testing.
Fast forward to 2021, and the Biden administration flipped the script, reversing the ban through the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and resuming taxpayer support for these ethically fraught studies.
Under this reversal, 17 active projects classified under “human fetal tissue” raked in nearly $22 million in fiscal year 2024 alone, many of which were greenlit during the current administration and set to run into next year.
These grants aren’t funding abstract science—many bankroll experiments where animals, like mice, are implanted with body parts from aborted babies, a practice that raises serious moral questions for many Americans.
One such study, tied to HIV research, involved embedding human fetal tissue into mice, with the tissue sourced from providers like Advanced Bioscience Resources without any identifying patient data or need for ethics board approval.
Another project built so-called “humanized” mice using fetal liver and thymus tissue, again obtained from Advanced Bioscience Resources with informed consent, but still sparking debate over the sanctity of life.
Enter WCW, whose mission to dismantle the government’s $20 billion animal testing enterprise uncovered these 17 projects, shining a light on what they and many conservatives see as a misuse of public funds.
Republican lawmakers have taken up the cause, pushing hard to defund any research involving fetal tissue from abortions, with efforts like the House Appropriations Committee’s recent FY26 NIH spending bill explicitly barring such funding.
Rep. Robert Onder of Missouri even introduced the “Protecting Life and Integrity in Research Act of 2025” earlier this year, aiming to slam the door shut on federal support for these studies once and for all.
Amid this mounting pressure, the NIH emailed a statement saying, “NIH takes this issue very seriously,” while pledging that the grants started under Biden’s watch won’t see renewal. Seriously? If they’re so committed to ethics, one wonders why it took watchdog exposés and political heat to act.
The NIH also claimed, “We are actively reviewing these matters,” adding they’ll ensure policies reflect a commitment to valuing human life. That’s a nice sentiment, but after years of funding experiments many find deeply troubling, skeptics might ask if this is just damage control.
As the incoming Trump administration looms, with now-HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. vowing during Senate hearings to reinstate a ban on such research, the NIH’s sudden pivot feels less like principle and more like preemptive positioning.
Still, for those who view this research as a violation of core values, the agency’s decision marks a long-overdue step toward accountability, even if the road ahead remains uncertain.