The news two weeks ago from the National Institutes of Health could be downplayed as a tidbit of politics by the Trump administration around the anniversary of the 1973 Supreme Court abortion decision. But that would be missing the larger import of the statement by NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya about the agency’s decision to end federal funding of research using tissue from elective abortions.

Bhattacharya said on Jan. 22, “NIH is pushing American biomedical science into the 21st century. This decision is about advancing science by investing in breakthrough technologies more capable of modeling human health and disease. Under President [Donald] Trump’s leadership, taxpayer-funded research must reflect the best science of today and the values of the American people.”

The announcement also stated that “NIH will continue to assess additional areas where modernization can accelerate progress and will engage the scientific community in identifying emerging technologies that can further reduce reliance on outdated research models.”

Is NIH seeking cover for an ideological decision that will set back scientific advances and the identification of cures for human maladies by decades or more? The record in this area provides strong evidence to the contrary.

Fetal tissue from elective abortion has been touted for years by some researchers as the only suitable source for disease research and therapy, study of human development, and the development of mouse models of the human immune system, termed “humanized mice.”

The practice and the promises predate Roe v. Wade. In over 100 years of fetal tissue research, not a single cure........

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