The House has just passed a bill, HR 810, which would free up federal funding to go toward scientific research on embryonic stem cells.
WASHINGTON – Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid called Wednesday for a swift vote on House-passed legislation to expand federal support of embryonic stem cell research and said President Bush was “wrong politically, morally and scientifically” for opposing the measure.
Echoing claims made by House supporters of the legislation, the Nevada Democrat said embryonic stem cell research holds the promise of helping millions afflicted with diabetes, Alzheimer’s Disease and other illnesses.
He urged an “up-or-down vote,” meaning one with no amendments allowed.
Reid made his comments on the day after the House approved legislation on vote of 238-194 — far less than the two-thirds support that would be needed to override a veto Bush has threatened.
Now, Bush, who hasn’t vetoed a single piece of legislation in his five years as president, is ready to veto this measure to satisfy his “culture of life” base. Because them li’l fertilized embryos — just a few little undifferentiated cells kept frozen in a petri dish — are just really tiny pre-born babies who should not be experimented with, even if it would save the lives of some already-born adults with awful diseases.
Think about that. The “culture of life” would rather that suffering people die than to allow medical science to find a way to help them live.
OK, but what about the pre-born babies? Surely it is consistent to want to save them, right? Well, no.
Bush says he opposes the bill because it would open the way for federally funded research that could create life to destroy it.
Proponents say federal funding for the research on days-old embryos, using a process that destroys them, would accelerate the search for treatments and perhaps cures for diseases such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. They say the embryos would have been discarded anyway.
Got that? We taxpayers cannot fund the research into embryonic stem cells, because those li’l pre-born babies are life that must not be experimented on, but instead those pre-born babies should just be thrown away. We can’t use their embryonic stem cells because they could have been, but never will be babies.
See, there’s all these fertility clinics that harvest eggs and sperm and try to get them to fertilize in a test tube. This takes a lot of eggs and sperm, because it’s not a perfect process. For every one embryo they implant in a lady’s tummy, there’s many more that are kept in freezers and eventually thrown away.
I often see news stories where some pro-life red-state childless couple goes to one of these fertility clinics to get pregnant. Nine months later, they have a baby, or sometimes a litter of babies. I never hear the pro-life forces complaining about that. Isn’t it awfully selfish of these couples to create a bunch of li’l pre-born babies to be discarded — killed — just so they can have their own li’l infant? Why, that sounds like creating life to destroy it.
If there were any consistency to the pro-life position, then they would be protesting fertility clinics. The existence of these clinics guarantees the destruction of embryos. You can’t support test tube babies to cure infertility while simultaneously opposing embryonic stem cell research that may cure Alzheimer’s. Whether they’re being killed by a scientist’s experimentation or a janitor emptying the trash, embryos are being killed.
The only other morally consistent option is for pro-life women to line up at the fertility clinics and volunteer to have all those unwanted embryos implanted in their wombs. Talk about your Leave No Child Behind! We’ll have to work out the issues of transferring parental rights — I’m not so sure every fertility clinic client would want their genetic offspring raised by a pro-life zealot. But only when absolutely no embryos (and their stem cells) are being wasted can it be morally tenable to oppose the federal funding of embryonic stem cell research. Otherwise, it is tantamount to saying, “Sorry, grandpa, we have to throw away your potential cure and abort these little embryos because we’re opposed to the abortion of little embryos.”
Opponents dispute that, questioning any evidence that embryonic stem cell research will lead to cures. They say taxpayers should not be forced to finance science they see as an attack on unborn babies and Bush’s “culture of life.”
Hey, I like this idea that we taxpayers should not have to fund anything that violates our principles and causes the death of innocent human beings. I’ll be expecting the Treasury refund check for my portion of taxes that funded this Iraq War; I understand that has killed some actually-born babies!
