WASHINGTON — Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. banned the use of tissue from aborted fetuses in taxpayer-funded research Friday, as Vice President JD Vance joined pro-life leaders for an annual rally on the National Mall.
Kennedy signed a directive ending the use of tissue from elective abortions in research by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), experiments which cost taxpayers almost $60 million in fiscal year 2024, according to The Guardian.
“HHS is ending the use of human fetal tissue from elective abortions in agency-funded research and replacing it with gold-standard science,” Kennedy said in a statement reinstating a ban imposed by the first Trump administration in 2019.
“The science supports this shift, the ethics demand it, and we will apply this standard consistently across the Department.”
“This decision is about advancing science by investing in breakthrough technologies more capable of modeling human health and disease,” added NIH Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya.
“Under President Trump’s leadership, taxpayer-funded research must reflect the best science of today and the values of the American people.”
At the 53rd annual March for Life on the National Mall, Vance said the Trump administration was working to build a “culture of life” in America — after celebrating the announcement earlier this week that he and his wife Usha are expecting their fourth child this coming July.
“I told you all that one of the things I most wanted in the United States of America was more families and more babies,” the VP said. “So let the record show you have a vice president who practices what he preaches.”
Vance also lashed out at the political “far left,” who he said view “marriage and children” as “obstacles” and claim “that it’s irresponsible, even immoral — because of climate change or some other reason — to encourage our young people to raise a family.”
“They tell us that life itself is a burden, but we here at this march, we know that it’s a lie. We know that life is a gift,” Vance said. “We know that babies are precious because we know them and we love them, and we see the way that they can transform our families.”
The vice president also said that “building a culture of life requires persuasion, and that’s what’s so different about this moment, compared to the moment that was dominated by the Supreme Court for 50 years.”
“We’re not trying to argue to the Supreme Court anymore,” added Vance, echoing the president’s rhetoric about returning abortion regulation to the states following the overturn of Roe v. Wade in 2022. “We’re trying to argue to our fellow citizens that we must build up that culture of life.”
Some advocates, like Susan B. Anthony List president Marjorie Dannenfelser, have accused the administration of not honoring promises to the Republican party’s pro-life base.
Earlier this month, President Trump told House Republicans they needed to be “flexible” on the Hyde Amendment, which blocks Medicaid funding for abortions with exceptions for rape, incest or procedures intended to preserve the life of the mother.
Some Republicans, like House Freedom Caucus Chairman Andy Harris (R-Md.), balked at the suggestion.
“There is no ‘compromise’ on taxpayer funding of abortion. Either the Hyde Amendment applies or it doesn’t. Either tax dollars fund plans that cover abortion – or they don’t. The proposal being floated is nowhere near Hyde,” Dannenfelser said in a statement responding to Trump.
At the March for Life, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) touted another legislative success in the pro-life movement by defunding Planned Parenthood, though that severance of reimbursements is currently being challenged in court.
“For years now, we know that Medicaid funds have skirted the essential protections under the Hyde Amendment and funneled tax dollars to abortion providers,” Johnson told the crowd. “And we said no more. And in the working families tax cut, the Big Beautiful Bill, for the first time ever, we finally defunded big abortion and it was a long time coming.”
Trump was the first US president to ever speak at the March for Life, during the final year of his first term. He delivered a video message this year.
