{"id":192469,"date":"2018-12-10T17:59:45","date_gmt":"2018-12-10T23:59:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=192469"},"modified":"2018-12-10T18:08:43","modified_gmt":"2018-12-11T00:08:43","slug":"trump-ethical-pro-life-alternatives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/trump-ethical-pro-life-alternatives\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump administration to fund ethical, pro-life alternatives to fetal tissue research"},"content":{"rendered":"
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(The Daily Signal<\/a>)\u00a0The Trump administration is investing up to $20 million for the next two years to determine effective alternatives to using tissue from aborted babies for research.<\/p>\n

The announcement Monday from the Department of Health and Human Services comes after the administration in September terminated<\/a> a government contract with California-based Advanced Bioscience Resources Inc. to provide human fetal tissue research.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are a pro-life, pro-science administration. This means that we understand and appreciate that medical research and the testing of new medical treatments using fetal tissue raises inherent moral and ethical issues,\u201d HHS spokeswoman Caitlin Oakley said in a prepared statement.<\/p>\n

After news that the Food and Drug Administration had renewed the contract with Advanced Bioscience Resources, 45 pro-life organizations wrote to Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, asserting that it was \u201ccompletely unacceptable to discover that the FDA is using federal tax dollars and fomenting demand for human body parts taken from babies who are aborted.\u201d<\/p>\n

READ:\u00a0Fetal tissue research firm closes amid failure to find embryonic stem cell cures<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The HHS soon announced that it had terminated the contract. Monday\u2019s announcement marks another step.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis also means that we place a high value on the work NIH [the National Institutes of Health] does in creating new discoveries that result in cures and improved quality of life,\u201d Oakley said. \u201cSecretary Azar directed the review, which we are approaching with the utmost seriousness and concern.\u201d<\/p>\n

NIH on Monday released<\/a> a notice of intent to publish new funding opportunity announcements inviting applications to develop and refine human tissue models that can be used to accurately model embryonic development or other aspects of human biology but do not rely on the use of fetal tissue obtained from elective abortions.<\/p>\n

The NIH will fund research to develop alternative models to the use of human fetal tissue in biomedical research.<\/p>\n