A U.S. lawmaker introduced a bill on the Senate floor last month that, if enacted, would ban federal taxpayer-funded medical research that uses aborted fetal tissue.

As reported by Science Insider, President Joe Biden’s administration removed restrictions on using taxpayer money to fund human fetal tissue research in early 2021, restrictions that former President Donald Trump implemented in 2019.

Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS), chair of the Senate Pro-Life Caucus, introduced S. 3713, known as the Protecting Life and Integrity in Research Act of 2024, on January 31.

In a press release announcing the filing of the bill, Hyde-Smith said, “Taxpayer dollars for medical research should be spent on research that will deliver results for enhancing quality of life, instead of devaluing life for the sake of research. This legislation would stop the Biden administration’s gross abuse of taxpayer funds.”

The press release cites an ongoing federal investigation into the University of Pittsburgh for allegedly harvesting parts from aborted fetuses for medical research purposes. The proposed bill would prevent federal agencies from participating in any research that involves human fetal tissue and would address the loopholes that some researchers have purportedly “exploited.”

Seventeen other U.S. senators are co-sponsoring the proposed legislation, including Sen. James Lankford (R-OK). He said in a press release: “No matter where Americans stand on the issue of abortion, we should agree that the buying and selling of the remains of aborted babies is wrong.”

“It is appalling that after a procedure like abortion, children’s bodies are trafficked with taxpayer dollars and mutilated in federally-funded research. This bill will make sure that taxpayers’ money is not used to enable this heartbreaking practice,” he said.

The press release also clarifies that this bill would only apply to fetal tissues from abortions, while research on tissue from miscarriages and stillbirths will be allowed to continue.

As reported by Life News, the bill has been endorsed by several anti-abortion organizations, such as Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, March for Life Action, and Concerned Women for America.

The bill has been sent to the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions and is currently awaiting further action.

For its part, the pro-abortion Guttmacher Institute has previously claimed, “Medical research using human fetal tissue obtained from abortions has benefited millions of people worldwide and holds great promise for the continued advancement of basic science, as well as for the development of lifesaving vaccines and therapies.”