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January 22, 2026<\/p>\n
2 min read<\/p>\n
Add Us On Google<\/span>Add SciAm<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n NIH ends fetal tissue research<\/p>\n The National Institutes of Health\u2019s move to end support for research using fetal human tissue is \u201cclearly a political decision, not a scientific one,\u201d one expert says<\/p>\n By Dan Vergano edited by Claire Cameron<\/span><\/p>\n National Institutes of Health director Jay Bhattacharya speaks at the National Conservatism Conference in Washington, D.C., in 2025.<\/p>\n Dominic Gwinn\/Middle East Images\/AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n The U.S. National Institutes of Health is ending support for research using human fetal tissue. Agency chief Jay Bhattacharya said in a statement on Thursday that the decision was motivated both by a need to cut costs and the \u201cincreasing availability of validated alternative technologies.\u201d<\/p>\n The NIH currently has a nearly $48-billion budget, and in 2025 it spent $53 million on 77 projects that involved human fetal tissues, ranging from HIV studies to joint and tendon regeneration research to investigations into early human development. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the NIH, has not clarified whether ongoing projects will see their funding cut off immediately; agency officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n Human fetal tissues are commonly defined as cells obtained from a dead human embryo or fetus after a spontaneous or induced abortion or stillbirth. Medical researchers have relied on the cells for decades for a myriad of scientific purposes, from developing vaccines to studying disease in \u201chumanized\u201d mice models.<\/p>\n If you’re enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.<\/p>\n The NIH\u2019s move has revived a politically contentious issue that pits abortion opponents\u2014who have been among the most reliable supporters of the Trump administration but are now wavering\u2014against researchers and patients who are pursuing cures for diseases, including ones that can begin in the womb.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s clearly a political decision, not a scientific one,\u201d says Lawrence Goldstein, an emeritus professor of cellular and molecular medicine at University of California, San Diego. \u201cIf you want to understand disease during fetal stages, you need the real thing as controls and guidance.\u201d<\/p>\n Previously, in a statement last September, the National Right to Life, an antiabortion group, had applauded the move to defund fetal tissue research, with the organization\u2019s president, Carol Tobias, calling it \u201ca long-overdue step.\u201d<\/p>\n This isn\u2019t the first time fetal tissue research has come under federal fire: the George W. Bush administration made similar efforts to limit funding for embryonic stem cell research. The first Trump administration also saw furor over fetal tissues in biomedical research, an episode that culminated in a review board that was filled with abortion opponents nixing almost every already approved proposal for research using the tissues in 2020. The Biden administration reversed the first Trump administration\u2019s restrictions in 2021 and approved new research using such tissues.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s already a general consensus that fetal tissue be used only where there is no adequate substitute and where there is substantial potential benefit, under strict ethical and regulatory parameters,\u201d says health policy expert Alicia Ely Amin, a lecturer on law at Harvard University. \u201cThis NIH is once again placing political considerations ahead of the expertise of the scientists conducting specific research.\u201d<\/p>\n Editor\u2019s Note (1\/22\/26): This article was edited after posting to correct the description of the National Right to Life\u2019s statement last September. This story is in development and may be updated.<\/p>\n If you enjoyed this article, I\u2019d like to ask for your support. 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I hope you\u2019ll support us in that mission.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" January 22, 2026 2 min read Add Us On GoogleAdd SciAm NIH ends fetal tissue research The National Institutes of Health\u2019s move to end support for research using fetal human tissue is \u201cclearly a political decision, not a scientific one,\u201d one expert says By Dan Vergano edited by Claire Cameron National Institutes of Health director<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":42442,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[58],"tags":[747,21613,405,3141,22370],"class_list":{"0":"post-42441","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-science","8":"tag-ends","9":"tag-fetal","10":"tag-nih","11":"tag-research","12":"tag-tissue"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42441","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=42441"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42441\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/42442"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=42441"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=42441"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=42441"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}On supporting science journalism<\/h2>\n
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