AFTER NIH FUNDING BAN, UNM FACES QUESTIONS OVER DOCUMENTED USE OF ABORTED BABIES IN MEDICAL RESEARCH

Federal funding shift intensifies scrutiny of UNM’s December 2025 tissue oversight policy and past congressional findings involving aborted baby tissue transfers.

By Bud Shaver,
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Albuquerque, New Mexico --In January 2026, the National Institutes of Health publicly announced that it will no longer fund research involving fetal tissue obtained from elective abortions. The decision affects all NIH grants and contracts and marks a significant shift in federal research funding standards for publicly funded institutions nationwide. According to NIH data, dozens of such projects were funded as recently as fiscal year 2024.

Just weeks earlier, on December 9, 2025, the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center finalized its policy outlining oversight of human tissue in research — a policy released following an IPRA request filed by Tara Shaver of Abortion Free New Mexico.

That policy now publicly confirms what federal investigators previously had to compel through subpoenas: UNM operates under a formal institutional framework governing the acquisition, transfer, and use of tissue from aborted babies in medical research within a taxpayer-funded university.

With NIH ending federal funding for such research, Abortion Free New Mexico (AFNM) is demanding immediate public disclosure regarding UNM’s compliance — including whether any federally funded projects are affected and how the university is ensuring adherence to the updated federal standard.

“This is not speculation,” said Tara Shaver, spokesperson for Abortion Free New Mexico. “It is written institutional policy.”

UNM’s 2025 Policy Formalizes Governance of Aborted Baby Tissue

UNM’s “Oversight of Human Tissue in Research” policy outlines:

• Acquisition of tissue from aborted babies through external entities
• Required assurances of separate abortion and donation consent
• Transfer agreements
• Internal oversight through the Human Tissue Oversight Committee
• Institutional Review Board review
• Scientific review processes

The policy does not prohibit the use of tissue from aborted babies. It regulates how that tissue is acquired, stored, and used within university research programs.

“This is not theoretical,” Shaver said. “UNM has codified how tissue from aborted babies is brought into its laboratories and used in medical research.”

A History That Required Subpoenas

UNM’s relationship with a late-term abortion provider was examined by the U.S. House Select Investigative Panel on Infant Lives in 2016.​

That investigation documented:

• Repeated transfers of organs and tissue from aborted babies;
• Procurement logs detailing gestational ages and specific organs;
• Research programs involving dissection of fetal brains;
• Formal criminal referrals to the New Mexico Attorney General and federal authorities.

Those records surfaced only after congressional subpoenas were issued — despite earlier representations suggesting certain procurement documentation did not exist.

“At the time, I was told procurement records did not exist,” Shaver said. “It took federal subpoenas for those documents to surface.”

Shaver previously stated publicly:

“I think they lack transparency, and it’s because they have things to hide. If you don’t have anything to hide, you’re going to put it all out there and show just how ethical you are.”

No state charges followed the congressional referral.

But the documented use of aborted babies in medical research — and the history of non-disclosure — remains part of the public record.

State Law Concerns Were Referred for Investigation

Concerns regarding potential violations of New Mexico law were initially raised by Tara Shaver of Abortion Free New Mexico and later examined during the U.S. House Select Investigative Panel on Infant Lives inquiry.​

The panel did not limit its findings to federal oversight concerns. It referred potential violations of New Mexico law to the Office of the New Mexico Attorney General.

According to publicly reported documents, potential state law concerns referenced included the Jonathan Spradling Revised Uniform Anatomical Gift Act and the Maternal and Fetal Experimentation Act.

The congressional panel provided evidentiary materials to the New Mexico Attorney General’s office as part of its referral.

No state charges were ultimately filed.

NIH Ends Funding —  UNM Compliance Must Be Clarified

In January 2026, NIH announced that it will no longer fund research involving tissue from aborted babies obtained through elective abortions.

For a publicly funded research university, that represents a major funding shift.

Yet UNM has not publicly clarified:

• Whether any NIH-funded research involving tissue from aborted babies is ongoing;
• Whether such projects have been modified or terminated;
• Whether alternative funding streams are being used;
• How compliance with the updated federal funding restriction is being verified.

“When federal standards change this dramatically, public institutions must respond transparently,” Shaver said. “Silence is not compliance.”

🔎 OFFICIAL POLICY CONFIRMS FRAMEWORK

UNM’s December 9, 2025 Standard Operating Procedure formalizes oversight of human fetal tissue acquisition and research — months before NIH ended federal funding for such research.

📌 TIMELINE OF FACTS

From subpoenas to federal funding bans — the record shows a pattern that now demands documented compliance.

Public Funding Requires Immediate Accountability

UNM is supported by:

• State taxpayer appropriations
• Federal research grants
• Public institutional funding

The NIH’s January 2026 decision reflects a clear federal position: American tax dollars should not be used to fund research involving fetal tissue obtained from elective abortions.

That principle applies at every level of government.​

New Mexico tax dollars should not subsidize research that relies on the bodies of aborted babies.

If federal funding has been halted for this category of research, the public deserves clear and documented confirmation that neither federal nor state taxpayer funds — directly or indirectly — are continuing to support it.

“When organs from aborted babies are transferred into UNM laboratories for medical experiments at a taxpayer-funded institution, transparency is not optional,” Shaver said. “Internal committees are not a substitute for public accountability.”

When funding standards shift this dramatically, public institutions must respond immediately and transparently.

Delay only deepens concern.
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​AFNM is calling on UNM leadership to:

• Publicly confirm whether any NIH-funded research involving tissue from aborted babies is ongoing;
• Clarify how its December 2025 protocol has been updated to reflect NIH’s 2026 funding shift;
• Release aggregate, non-identifying information regarding current research involving tissue from aborted babies;
• Provide assurance that no prohibited federal funds are being used.

UNM’s December 2025 policy formalizes the institutional framework governing the acquisition and use of tissue from aborted babies in medical research. With federal funding standards now changed, the responsibility to demonstrate compliance rests with the institution.

Transparency should not have to be extracted through federal investigation.​

The burden is on UNM to prove compliance clearly, immediately, and publicly.

“The American people should not have to rely on congressional subpoenas to find out what their public universities are doing,” Shaver said. “If UNM is fully compliant with the NIH funding ban, it should say so clearly — and prove it. If it isn’t, the public deserves to know that immediately. Transparency delayed is transparency denied.”