For the second time in less than a year, US President Bush has vetoed a bill that would have lifted a ban on federal funding for embryonic stem cell research.
Bush announced his veto last Wednesday saying, “If this legislation became law, it would compel American taxpayers for the first time in our history to support the deliberate destruction of human embryos. I made it clear to Congress and to the American people that I will not allow our nation to cross this moral line.”
Whether he likes it or not, that already happens on a regular basis.
A 2004 study by the University of Pennsylvania’s Center for Bioethics found that nearly all in vitro fertilization clinics harvest more embryos than they’ll need and about 80% of the clinics dispose of unwanted embryos—most by simply dumping the extras in the biological waste bin.
It’s too bad decisions about what happens to an embryo are being made by the government and not by the women and men who are most connected—both emotionally and genetically—to those embryos. According to a survey released in last week’s Science, 60% of couples who have embryos stored at fertility clinics said they would willingly donate them for stem cell research. A Gallup poll conducted in mid May also found that 64% of Americans think embryonic stem cell research is morally acceptable.
Whether these taxpayers are funding stem cell research or not, they’ve already made it clear that they’re ready to cross Bush’s moral line. Listening, President Bush?
Posted on behalf of Cassandra Willyard, news intern for Nature Medicine
The Bush Administration and the Republican Religious Right who think they represent the majority of American may think they have good reason to advocate a continued moratorium on embryonic stem cell research, but soon, the perceived societal benefits of such research will far outweigh the perceived moral objection by the mindless Republican Conservative Religious Right.
A cure for Cancer, Diabetes, MS, ACL, MD or Alzheimer is all it will take for this issue to finally reach the tipping point. What will a member of the Bush Administration or the Republican Religious Right; facing a choice between futures lives of Alzheimer or MS do when a new cure based on an embryonic stem cell becomes available. Most of President Bush’s “dead-head” policies will become increasingly hard to sustain.
Here’s a suggestion for the Bush Administration and the Republican Conservative Religious Right to rallying support for his stand against embryonic stem cell research. With the Fox News Network cameras rolling at the White house. The Bush Administration and the Republican Conservative Religious Right and their like-minded political friends (and their families) should gather at the White House to re-affirm their beliefs that medical treatment derived from embryonic stem cell research by signing a Presidential Proclamation stating that they all will never under any circumstances, accept any form of medical treatment for themselves or their children derived from embryonic stem cell research. Example has always been the most effective component of leadership; however two-facedness will most likely win the day.
It is wrong to experiment on human life, plain and simple.
Just because you believe it is OK, doesn’t mean that other serious people disagree with you, or that it is right to do such experimentation.
To dismiss the legitimate beliefs of others is indicative of hubris unsupported by any evidence.