Biden Administration Timeline: Science and Evidence Guiding Policy and Funding

Research using fetal tissue has been used to create lifesaving vaccines and treatments for a myriad of diseases and medical conditions. Yet, in 2019, the Trump administration issued restrictions banning the use of newly acquired fetal tissue research in federally funded research. This decision came contrary to the word of National Institute of Health (NIH) scientists, and rather, at the behest of anti-abortion lobbyists with outsized influence over the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) political staff have routinely pursued anti-science and anti-abortion policies and actions. Using rhetoric pulled directly from far-right and anti-abortion groups, HHS political appointees have disrupted effective and important research, putting scientific advancement for lifesaving vaccines and treatments at risk. One such example is research using fetal tissue, where focus from anti-abortion groups has resulted in actions and policy goals that fail the real needs of the American public.