'Transgender experiments on animals' banned in NIH spending bill upon request of GOP lawmakers

The National Institutes of Health spending bill in the House bans funding for "research on vertebrate animals for the purpose of studying the effects of drugs, surgery, or other interventions to alter the human body" with the intent that it "no longer correspond[s] to its biological sex," in language requested by 19 GOP lawmakers.

The Appropriations Committee's labor, health, human services and education subcommittee will mark up the fiscal 2027 bill Friday morning.

The March 27 letter to subcommittee leaders, previously unreported, asked for appropriations language to stop funding "transgender experiments on animals" to test how humans might respond to so-called gender affirming care, such as "by disrupting the body’s development, inhibiting its natural functions, or modifying its appearance."

It cites "dozens" of NIH grants issued by the Biden administration's Anthony Fauci, then-director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, that funded "disturbing experiments to create 'transfeminine' and 'transmasculine' lab mice, rats, and monkeys to mimic transgender human children and adults."

They were uncovered by the anti-animal testing White Coat Waste Project, House Oversight Committee and media reports, according to the letter, led by Reps. Paul Gosar of Arizona and Lauren Boebert of Colorado. WCW provided the letter to Just the News.

"The animals subjected to invasive surgeries and hormone therapies were subsequently wounded, shocked, injected with street drugs and vaccinations, and endured other disturbing procedures," the letter says.

"We are alarmed that taxpayer dollars have already been wasted on these contrived animal tests and that the NIH and its grantees have apparently laundered tax dollars through unrelated grants to fund grotesque animal experiments that promote extreme and irreversible gender transitions for children," lawmakers said.

Despite President Trump having "personally criticized these experiments on several occasions," his administration canceling "millions in grants" and the Department of Health and Human Services pledging that "no other NIH grants still fund transgender animal experiments," many grants that  "previously funneled funding to this sickening research have remained active," the letter says.

It acknowledges the same language was in the subcommittee’s fiscal year 2026 bill "at our request and that of our colleagues on the Subcommittee." 

Rep. Lisa McClain of Michigan spoke alongside House GOP leaders at a press conference Wednesday distinguishing "common sense" GOP priorities such as cutting taxes from "crazy" Democratic priorities such as "trans-ing the mice" with $8 million in taxpayer money.

"I can think of some other" ways to spend that money, "maybe the homeless, maybe the housing, maybe some veterans," McClain said.