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S 987
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Protecting Life and Integrity in Research Act of 2025

To prohibit the Federal Government from conducting, funding, approving, or otherwise supporting any research involving human fetal tissue that is obtained pursuant to an induced abortion, and to prohibit the solicitation or knowing acquisition, receipt, or acceptance of a donation of such tissue.

Introduced Mar 12, 2025

Latest action (Mar 12, 2025) Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.

Policy area
Issues
Healthcare

Summary

This bill prohibits the federal government from conducting, funding, or supporting any research that uses human fetal tissue obtained from induced abortion. The bill permits federal research involving fetal tissue obtained from miscarriage or stillbirth under existing Public Health Service Act rules. It also prohibits the federal government from knowingly acquiring or accepting donations of fetal tissue obtained from induced abortion. The bill allows federal agencies to develop new cell lines for vaccines and genetic vectors as long as they are not derived from fetal tissue from induced abortion. It repeals a prior 1993 provision related to fetal tissue research.

AI-generated plain-language summary of the bill text — neutral, and may be imperfect. See the full text below for the exact wording.

Sponsor (1)

Actions (2)

  1. Mar 12, 2025 Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. · senate
  2. Mar 12, 2025 Introduced in Senate

Similar bills (6)

Bills with similar text or summary — includes reintroductions across Congresses. Ranked by semantic similarity of the bill text (computed locally); a neutral discovery aid, not a claim the bills are duplicates.

Full text

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

March 12, 2025

Mrs. Hyde-Smith (for herself, Mr. Risch, Mr. Lankford, Mr. Kennedy, Mr. Hawley, Mr. Mullin, Mr. Daines, Mr. Barrasso, Mr. Lee, and Mr. Cramer) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions

A BILL

To prohibit the Federal Government from conducting, funding, approving, or otherwise supporting any research involving human fetal tissue that is obtained pursuant to an induced abortion, and to prohibit the solicitation or knowing acquisition, receipt, or acceptance of a donation of such tissue.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the “Protecting Life and Integrity in Research Act of 2025”.

SEC. 2. NO RESEARCH INVOLVING HUMAN FETAL TISSUE OBTAINED PURSUANT TO AN INDUCED ABORTION.

(a) In General.—

(1) In general.—No Federal department, agency, or office may conduct, fund, approve, or otherwise support any research involving human fetal tissue that is obtained pursuant to an induced abortion.

(2) Development of new, ethical cell lines.—Subsection (a) does not limit the authority of the head of any Federal department, agency, or office, to develop or support the development of new, high-efficiency cell lines, including for the production of vaccines and genetic vectors, so long as the cell lines are not derived from human fetal tissue that is obtained pursuant to an induced abortion.

(3) Research involving human fetal tissue obtained after a miscarriage or stillbirth permitted.—Any research of any Federal department, agency, or office on human fetal tissue obtained after a miscarriage or stillbirth shall be conducted or supported in accordance with section 498A of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 289g-1).

(4) Definition.—In this subsection, the term “human fetal tissue” has the meaning given such term in section 498A(g) of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 289g-1(g)).

(b) Amendments to the PHSA Limiting Human Fetal Tissue Research to Tissue Obtained After a Miscarriage or Stillbirth.—Section 498A of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 289g-1) is amended—

(1) in the section heading, by striking “transplantation of fetal tissue” and inserting “human fetal tissue obtained after a miscarriage or stillbirth”;

(2) by amending subsection (a) to read as follows:

“(a) Establishment of Program.—The Secretary may conduct or support research on human fetal tissue obtained after a miscarriage or a stillbirth.”;

(3) in subsection (b)—

(A) in paragraph (1)(B), by inserting “if the human fetal tissue is intended for transplantation,” before “the donation”; and

(B) in paragraph (2)—

(i) by striking subparagraph (A); and

(ii) by redesignating subparagraphs (B) and

(C) as subparagraphs (A) and (B), respectively;

(4) in subsection (c)(1)(B), by striking “pursuant to a spontaneous or induced abortion or pursuant to” and inserting “after a miscarriage or”; and

(5) by amending subsection (g) to read as follows:

“(g) Definitions.—In this section:

“(1) Human fetal tissue.—The term ‘human fetal tissue’ means tissue or cells obtained from a dead unborn child pursuant to an induced abortion, a miscarriage, or a stillbirth.

“(2) Miscarriage.—The term ‘miscarriage’ means the involuntary death of an unborn child who was carried in the womb for a period of less than 20 weeks.

“(3) Stillbirth.—The term ‘stillbirth’ means the involuntary death of an unborn child who was carried in the womb for a period of 20 weeks or more.

“(4) Unborn child.—-The term ‘unborn child’ has the meaning given such term in section 1841(d) of title 18, United States Code.”.

(c) Conforming Repeal.—Section 113 of the National Institutes of Health Revitalization Act of 1993 (42 U.S.C. 289g-1 note) is repealed.

SEC. 3. PROHIBITION AGAINST SOLICITATION OR KNOWING ACQUISITION, RECEIPT, OR ACCEPTANCE OF A DONATION OF HUMAN FETAL TISSUE KNOWING THAT THE TISSUE WAS OBTAINED PURSUANT TO AN INDUCED ABORTION.

(a) In General.—Paragraph (1) of section 498B(c) of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 289g-2(c)) is amended to read as follows:

“(1) solicit or knowingly acquire, receive, or accept a donation (excluding any transfer for purposes of autopsy or burial) of human fetal tissue knowing that—

“(A) a human pregnancy was deliberately initiated to provide such tissue; or

“(B) the tissue was obtained pursuant to an induced abortion; or”.

(b) Conforming Changes.—Section 498B of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 289g-2) is amended—

(1) by striking subsection (b);

(2) by redesignating subsections (c) through (e) as subsections (b) through (d), respectively; and

(3) in subsection (c), as redesignated—

(A) in paragraph (1), by striking “(a), (b), or

(c)” and inserting “(a) or (b)”; and

(B) in paragraph (2), by striking “or (b)(3)”. <all>

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