Protecting Life and Integrity in Research Act of 2025
Summary
HB2075, titled the Protecting Life and Integrity in Research Act of 2025, would bar any federal department, agency, or office from conducting, funding, approving, or otherwise supporting research involving human fetal tissue obtained through an induced abortion. The bill also prohibits the solicitation or knowing acquisition, receipt, or acceptance of donations of fetal tissue when the tissue was obtained pursuant to an induced abortion, and it makes clear that tissue from miscarriage or stillbirth may still be used for federally supported research under existing Public Health Service Act procedures.
The bill further amends federal law governing fetal tissue research by narrowing the statutory framework to focus on tissue obtained after miscarriage or stillbirth, revising definitions, and repealing a prior NIH Revitalization Act provision. It also preserves federal authority to develop or support new, high-efficiency cell lines, including for vaccines and genetic vectors, so long as those cell lines are not derived from fetal tissue obtained through induced abortion. In effect, the measure would significantly restrict federal involvement with abortion-derived fetal tissue while leaving room for certain non-abortion-derived biomedical research.
Impact
If enacted, HB2075 would amend sections 498A and 498B of the Public Health Service Act and repeal a related provision of the NIH Revitalization Act of 1993. The practical effect would be to prohibit federal support for research using fetal tissue from induced abortions, while allowing research using tissue from miscarriage or stillbirth under specified rules. It would also impose a federal prohibition on knowingly obtaining fetal tissue donations when the tissue came from an induced abortion, affecting researchers, federal agencies, tissue donors, and institutions that receive federal funding or approval for biomedical research.
Sentiment
Based on the bill’s sponsorship and the absence of recorded committee debate or votes in the provided materials, the available context suggests the measure is being advanced by supporters who favor restricting abortion-derived fetal tissue research on ethical and life-protection grounds. The bill’s title and structure indicate a strongly pro-life framing, with an emphasis on protecting the integrity of federally supported research. No contrary sentiment is documented in the provided record, but the subject matter is inherently divisive and likely to draw strong reactions from both abortion-rights and biomedical research stakeholders.
Contention
The central point of contention is whether the federal government should be allowed to support research involving fetal tissue obtained from induced abortions. Supporters are likely to argue that such research is ethically unacceptable and that alternatives such as new cell lines should be used instead. Opponents are likely to argue that the bill would restrict biomedical research, limit scientific flexibility, and potentially hinder development of therapies, vaccines, and other public health tools. A secondary issue is the bill’s distinction between tissue from induced abortion and tissue from miscarriage or stillbirth, which preserves some research pathways while eliminating others.