The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said in a notice to the “extramural research community” – researchers who are not at NIH facilities – that it would be removing the Trump administration’s 2019 requirement that a federal ethics advisory board review all proposals for fetal tissue research.
Tom McClusky, president of March for Life Action, called the announcement “very disappointing.”
“This type of experimental research is a gross violation of human dignity and is not where the majority of Americans want their tax dollars being spent. The government has no business creating a marketplace for aborted baby body parts,” he said.
The HHS Department in June 2019 halted new research using fetal tissue of aborted babies at NIH facilities; for federally-funded fetal tissue research outside NIH facilities, the agency required approval by federal ethics advisory boards.