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 Scientists say fetal tissue is critical for research into many
complex diseases, including HIV, Alzheimer's and cancer.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services also said on
Wednesday it ended a $2 million-a-year contract with the University
of California, San Francisco (UCSF), that involved the use of fetal
tissue. In September, the agency ended a contract between Advanced
Bioscience Resources Inc and the Food and Drug Administration, that
used fetal tissue to develop testing protocols.
There are 200 external government-funded projects that use fetal
tissue that will not be affected by the decision, an HHS spokeswoman
said. The new policy affects three of NIH's 3,000 internal projects,
she said, adding that they will be allowed to continue until fetal
tissue material runs out.
The NIH spent about $100 million on fetal tissue research projects
last year, according to the New York Times.
HHS said it ended the contract with UCSF for ethical reasons, but
did not specify what those were. NIH declined to comment, referring
all questions to HHS.
"HHS Secretary Alex Azar is putting millions of dollars in
lifesaving research at risk to please a small group of anti-abortion
extremists," said Mary Alice Carter, senior adviser at Equity
Forward, an HHS watchdog group.
Anti-abortion advocates who have pressed the Trump administration to
end fetal tissue research for months, declared the announcement "a
major pro-life victory."
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"It is outrageous and disgusting that we have been complicit,
through our taxpayer dollars, in the experimentation using baby body
parts," Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the anti-abortion group
Susan B. Anthony List, said in a statement.
The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump has championed
several policies to restrict abortion both in the United States and
abroad. A Reuters report last week detailed how Vice President Mike
Pence, who has been driven throughout his political career by his
evangelical Christian beliefs to restrict abortion, has played a
quiet, behind-the-scenes role in abortion policy.
Dannenfelser told Reuters she has worked closely with Pence's office
and officials at HHS on numerous issues, and that her group and
likeminded anti-abortion activists have urged the agency to end
fetal tissue research contracts. Some anti-abortion advocates have
criticized NIH head Francis Collins for defending such research.
Abortion has re-emerged as a central national issue in recent weeks
as nine states, including Alabama, Georgia and Missouri, passed
restrictive laws this year that all but outlaw the procedure. The
laws aim to prompt court challenges that would make it to the
conservative-dominated Supreme Court with the hope that it would
overturn the Roe v. Wade decision that guaranteed a woman's right to
abortion.
(Reporting by Yasmeen Abutaleb in Washington and Manojna Maddipatla
in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber and Bill Berkrot)
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