Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), Co-Chair of the Congressional Pro-Life Caucus, Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS), and 21 other Republican members of Congress sent a letter to National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, urging him to permanently end the agency’s funding of human embryo-destroying stem cell (hESC) research and terminate the NIH Human Embryonic Stem Cell Registry (Registry).

                The letter, first obtained by the Washington Examiner, asserts that hESC research—which the NIH has spent over $1.2 billion on between 2021 and 2024—is “unethical” and “has not yielded good results,” and argues that the NIH should redirect its attention to more promising and ethical types of stem cell research, such as adult stem cells, umbilical cord blood, and induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs).

                “The NIH policy on funding hESC research and maintaining the Registry, which currently lists more than 500 hESC lines, has been a moral blot on NIH. This research relies on the death of human embryos,” the Republican lawmakers write. “There is no such thing as a ‘spare’ human being, and the U.S. government should not be facilitating or funding research that depends on killing and harvesting cells from human beings in their youngest form.”

                The 23 co-signers of the letter go on to argue that hESC treatments have failed to yield consistent, positive results for recipients, underscoring the need for the NIH to cease funding this unethical, outdated initiative, and instead focus on advancing ethical stem cell research, which has already procured tangible, beneficial outcomes for patients.

                For instance, adult stem cells have successfully treated a number of hematopoietic conditions, such as blood cancers and blood disorders, as well as certain cardiovascular, cerebrovascular, metabolic, and autoimmune diseases. Umbilical cord blood, rich in stem cells, has been used to treat more than 75 diseases, including leukemia, lymphoma, and sickle cell disease, and the use of iPSCs has proven to be indispensable in various applications, such as disease modeling, regenerative medicine, and drug discovery studies.

                “The proven effectiveness of these ethical sources of stem cells, contrasted with the dismal record of hESC research, reveals the urgent need for NIH to modernize its funding strategy for stem cell research,” the authors state.

                “The NIH should never have allowed research that relies upon and incentivizes the destruction of human life to be funded with billions of taxpayer dollars. It certainly should refrain from continuing to do so, especially after that great expense has delivered so little benefit for patients.”

                Rep. Smith is the author of the Stem Cell Therapeutic and Research Act of 2005 (PL 109-129), groundbreaking legislation that created the national umbilical cord blood program, expanded the C.W. Bill Young Cell Transplantation Program, and connected patients with genetically matched umbilical cord blood stem cells. Given the significant success rates of ethical stem cell and umbilical cord blood treatments, Congress reauthorized the law in 2010, 2015, and 2020.

                In September of 2025, Rep. Smith introduced his newest reauthorization of the law, the Stem Cell Therapeutic and Research Reauthorization Act of 2025 (HR 5160), which will authorize more than $280 million over five years for national umbilical cord blood and bone marrow transplant programs.

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