The National Institutes of Health (NIH) said it will not renew more than a dozen grants for research involving human fetal tissue after Breitbart News reported on a government watchdog investigation about the taxpayer-funded experiments.
White Coat Waste Project (WCW) found that the nation’s medical research agency is still actively funding 17 projects listed under the “human fetal tissue” category — many projects which appear to have been green-lit by the Biden administration and are slated to continue through next year. The investigation, first obtained by Breitbart News, comes as Republicans work to include a measure in a spending bill for the 2026 fiscal year defunding research using human fetal tissue obtained in abortions.
The NIH responded to Breitbart’s request for comment on Wednesday, saying that it is also “actively reviewing” its policy.
“NIH takes this issue very seriously and remains committed to the highest ethical standards in research. The referenced grants, initiated under the Biden administration, will not be renewed,” the agency said via email. “NIH is guided by a commitment to valuing human life and ensuring that federally funded research is conducted responsibly and transparently. We are actively reviewing these matters and will take all necessary steps to ensure our policies reflect that commitment.”
During President Donald Trump’s first term in 2019, he banned new funding for fetal tissue research and ended all in-house NIH research using the body parts of aborted babies. According to WCW, the policy did not cancel existing projects but ultimately correlated with a 50 percent decrease in NIH spending on fetal tissue to date.
When the rabidly pro-abortion Biden administration took over in 2021, the NIH, under the authority of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), announced its reversal of the Trump administration’s decision to end taxpayer funding for experimental research that uses fetal tissue derived from aborted babies.
