President of the United States, Joe Biden. The White House press secretary said last Tuesday that President Biden “respectfully disagrees” with Catholic bishops on federally-funded foetal tissue research.
At the White House press briefing, EWTN News Nightly’s Owen Jensen asked press secretary Jen Psaki about the Biden administration’s recent decision to remove restrictions on federally-funded foetal tissue research.
“As you well know, the administration just lifted the ban on researchers using foetal tissue from elective abortions,” Mr Jensen said. He cited a statement of the US bishops’ conference that the decision to lift the ban and allow for taxpayer-funded research with aborted foetal tissue was “deeply offensive”.
“Look, I think the White House respectfully disagrees,” Ms Psaki said in response. “And we believe that it’s important to invest in science and look for opportunities to cure diseases, and I think that’s what this is hopeful to do.”
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced on April 16 that it was reversing restrictions on research using foetal tissue and organs of aborted babies.
By repealing Trump-era policies, NIH would once again allow for foetal tissue research at NIH facilities. Furthermore, it said it would no longer require researchers at outside facilities seeking federal funding to first submit foetal tissue research proposals to a federal ethics advisory board.