Editor's Desk: Dark Clouds Ahead
By Michael F. Flach
Herald Editor
(From the issue of 1/18/07)
One of the first pieces of legislation passed by the
U.S. House of Representatives last week was a bill that would remove current
limits on federal funding for embryonic stem cell research. The vote was
253-174. Senate action on a similar bill is expected within a matter of
months. Not surprisingly, pro-life advocates were quick to respond.
“The House voted to force all taxpayers to fund stem cell research
requiring the destruction of human embryos,” said Richard Doerflinger,
deputy director of the Secretariat for Pro-Life Activities at the U.S.
Conference of Catholic Bishops. “As in the past, President Bush
had pledged to veto this misguided and unethical legislation and there
are not enough votes to override that veto.”
Doerflinger said Congress should turn its attention to stem cell research
that poses no moral problem and that is already beginning to help patients
with dozens of conditions in clinical trials. “Unlike embryonic
stem cell research, research using stem cells from adult tissue, umbilical
cord blood, amniotic fluid and other sources is showing enormous promise
and is likely to produce new treatments for patients now living,”
he said.
“Most Americans support stem cell research and most greatly prefer
that this research advance without harming or destroying human life at
any stage,” Doerflinger said. “The truly statesmanlike approach
to this issue would be to take up this challenge, supporting medical progress
that all Americans can live with.”
“This vote is an example of politics trumping both morality and
science,” said Carrie Gordon Earll, Focus on the Family’s
senior analyst for bioethics. “It’s never morally acceptable
to destroy human life in research. In the history of medical experiments,
some of the worst things imaginable have been done with the best intentions.”
Earll said there is something wrong with the medical experiment if it
purposefully threatens or destroys a human life. “In a civilized
society, we must demand more,” she said. “Thankfully, in the
case of stem-cell research, we have ethical alternatives that are just
as good, perhaps better, than the unethical ones.”
Adult stem cells have been used in more than 1,000 human clinical trials
and currently treat more than 70 conditions, Earll said. “Compare
that to embryonic stem cells, which are not being used in any human trials
and have not produced a single treatment or cure.”
“Every lawmaker who voted against this bill supports stem cell research,
but not the kind that requires killing human embryos and we commend them
for that,” said Douglas Johnson, legislative director for the National
Right to Life Committee. “The key lawmakers pushing this bill rejected
an anti-human cloning amendment, which was one more proof that the biotech
industry is determined to use human cloning to create human embryo farms.”
One of the legislative issues being promoted by the Virginia Catholic
Conference during the current Virginia General Assembly is the prohibition
of the use of state funds for research that requires the destruction of
human embryos or fetuses. The VCC wants an increase in state funding earmarked
exclusively for the therapeutic use of stem cells obtained by using adult
stem cells or stem cells from umbilical-cord blood.
If this type of legislation is a harbinger of things to come from the
2007 Congress, it does not bode well for pro-lifers across the country.
– M.F.F.
Copyright (c) 2007 Arlington Catholic
Herald
