Published April 23, 2026
In January 2026, the National Institute of Health (NIH) requested public comments on whether federal funding should continue to support embryo-destructive research. On April 23, 2026, Dr. Aaron Kheriaty, MD, Director of EPPC’s Bioethics, Technology, and Human Flourishing Program, and EPPC Fellow and Charles E. Rice Professor of Law at Notre Dame Law School O. Carter Snead submitted a public comment arguing that federal funds should instead go toward ethically acceptable stem cell research that has proven to lead to effective clinical applications. The comment provides a historical overview of the tangled path of federal funding for research on human embryos before articulating important ethical and practical considerations.
As the commenters wrote:
Drawing on modern embryology, we can say with certainty that an embryo is a complete, living, self-directing human organism—genetically distinct, integrated, and on a developmental trajectory toward maturity. The classical liberal principle of human equality at the heart of America’s founding must apply without discrimination based on age, size, developmental stage, degree of dependency, or utility. The intentional destruction of human embryos for research violates this principle; creating embryos solely for destruction (by IVF or cloning) is even more objectionable.
Other organizations submitting comments to the NIH included:
- American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists
- Charlotte Lozier Institute
- National Catholic Bioethics Center, The Catholic Medical Association, National Catholic Partnership on Disability, and The National Association of Catholic Nurses, USA
Aaron Kheriaty, MD, is the Director of the Bioethics, Technology, and Human Flourishing Program at the Ethics and Public Policy Center. He is a physician specializing in psychiatry who has published over one hundred articles and five books, including most recently, Making the Cut: How to Heal Modern Medicine.
