The Trump administration announced on Wednesday it will end future research conducted with fetal tissue from aborted babies.
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) also announced it would not renew a multi-million dollar partnership with the University of California-San Francisco (UCSF) that funded the use of body parts obtained from aborted babies for medical research into diseases such as HIV and Zika. The agency will no longer allow government scientists to conduct research with fetal tissue.
“Promoting the dignity of human life from conception to natural death is one of the very top priorities of President Trump’s administration,” the statement said. “Intramural research that requires new acquisition of fetal tissue from elective abortions will not be conducted.”
UCSF was the top recipient of funding from the National Institutes of Health in 2018. Its taxpayer-funded research included a $13 million contract to supply 90 mice injected with aborted baby cells each month.
The extension of the contract expired on Wednesday, but the university called the decision to end it “abrupt” in a statment, adding that it “deeply opposed” the decision to prevent federal researchers from using tissue obtained from abortion. It emphasized it complied with all federal and state laws and exercised appropriate oversight in the collection of the parts. – READ MORE