Protecting Life and Integrity in Research Act of 2025
Summary
SB 987, 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 donated fetal tissue when the donor or recipient knows the tissue was obtained pursuant to an induced abortion. At the same time, it preserves federal authority to support research using tissue obtained after miscarriage or stillbirth, and it expressly allows development of new cell lines that are not derived from abortion-derived fetal tissue.
The bill would amend the Public Health Service Act to narrow existing federal fetal tissue research provisions so that they apply only to tissue obtained after miscarriage or stillbirth. It would revise statutory definitions, change the heading and substance of section 498A, and repeal a related note in the NIH Revitalization Act of 1993. It also makes conforming changes to the federal prohibition on trafficking in fetal tissue, expanding the ban to cover knowing receipt of tissue obtained through induced abortion while retaining exceptions for autopsy or burial transfers.
Impact
If enacted, SB 987 would significantly restrict federal involvement in fetal tissue research by removing abortion-derived tissue from permissible federally supported research and tightening related donation rules. It would alter the Public Health Service Act, affect NIH and other federal research programs, and limit researchers, institutions, and tissue intermediaries that rely on federally supported fetal tissue sources. Research using tissue from miscarriage or stillbirth would remain permissible under the amended federal framework.
Sentiment
The bill’s title and sponsors indicate strong support from its Republican and anti-abortion backers, and the text is framed as a protection-of-life measure. No committee transcript or vote record is available here, so there is no recorded debate or bipartisan support to assess. Based on the bill’s sponsors and subject matter, the general sentiment appears supportive among its introducers and likely aligned with abortion-restriction advocates.
Contention
The central point of contention is the bill’s categorical ban on federal support for research involving fetal tissue obtained from induced abortion, which opponents would likely view as limiting biomedical research and potentially affecting vaccine, genetic vector, and other scientific development. Supporters are likely to argue that the bill draws a moral line by excluding abortion-derived tissue while preserving research on miscarriage- or stillbirth-derived tissue and allowing new ethical cell lines. Another likely dispute is whether the bill’s expanded donation prohibition and revised definitions are too broad or could create compliance burdens for researchers, hospitals, and tissue procurement entities.