Health and Human Services Secretary Louis Sullivan says he agrees federal funds should not be used for research using fetal tissue from intentional abortions.
Sullivan, acting on the recommendation of his chief health official, informed the National Institutes of Health on Thursday that the 20-month ban on such research by federal scientists or with federal grants will be extended indefinitely.The decision will likely be hailed by some Utah legislators who introduced legislation this year to ban medical research on human fetal tissue. Although the bill was tabled, it is expected to be reintroduced next year.
Scientific research involving legally aborted fetuses is not being done in Utah, but it is still a possibility and something local doctors say could pioneer medical research.
"I think with extremely rigid and strict guidelines, it should be pursued," Dr. Harry Gibbons, executive director of the Salt Lake City/County Health Department, said in an interview earlier this year. "I can remember when organ transplants were a horrible thought - taking an organ from something giving to someone else. Under extremely rigid, ethical, practical, moral guidelines set by institutional review boards, I think this would be appropriate."
While acknowledging potential health benefits from such research, Sullivan said he could not ignore the moral and ethical considerations.
"It is clear that research involving use of fetal tissue from induced abortions for human transplantation could potentially produce health benefits, and I do not in any way discount the importance of this fact," Sullivan said in a statement issued by his office.
"But this is an issue which requires careful consideration not only of the potential benefits and hazard of such research, but also profound consideration of those moral and ethical elements which must never be divorced from the highest purpose of medical research," he said.
"It is my conclusion that in the specific area of transplantation to humans involving fetal tissue from induced abortions, it is not appropriate that federal support be provided."
James Mason, assistant secretary for health at HHS and former executive director of the Utah Department of Health, told reporters Wednesday that he intended to continue the ban, imposed by his predecessor last year, because he believes such experimentation would lead to more abortions.
Mason called federally supported fetal tissue research "unacceptable public policy."