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Editorial on Stem Cell Research
It is easy to understand how well-meaning
Americans might be willing to pursue the promise of embryonic stem cell
research, despite the deep moral and ethical questions associated with
destroying nascent human life. The potential to cure spinal cord injuries,
Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, and other neurological disorders is a powerful
temptation to disregard the ethical barriers which have always stood in the way
of research that requires the destruction of human life. I can personally relate
to the desires of those who seek to cure neurological disorders through stem
cell research.
As a close friend of the family of Emily Hunt, who at age
four suffered a debilitating spinal cord injury at an Indiana amusement park, I
have joined many Hoosiers and her family, in praying that one day, breakthrough
medical treatments will allow Emily to rise from her wheelchair and walk beside
her twin sister, Nikki. That is why I support ethical adult stem cell research.
Research on adult and placental stem cells provides great medical
promise without raising the ethical dilemma of embryonic stem cell research. Not
only does embryonic research require scientists to sacrifice one life to improve
the life of another, but it is also important to note that science has made no
breakthroughs to date using human embryonic stem cells. All of the medical
advances in stem cell research have resulted from adult, not embryonic
experimentation, so I strongly support President Bush’s call for increased
funding for adult and placental stem cell research.
Despite the great
scientific promise of stem cells, I am pleased with the President's refusal to
use taxpayer dollars to fund research that would destroy human embryos.
President Bush has articulated an important bright-line standard that protects
human life while allowing limited research on adult stem cells and cells from
embryos that have already been destroyed. I believe the President kept his
promise to “oppose federal funding for stem cell research that involved
destroying living human embryos.” At its core, his address to the American
people last week revealed a continuing commitment to his belief in the
fundamental value and sanctity of human life.
However, I believe the
President made the wrong decision in allowing continued funding of research that
began with the destruction of nascent human life. In permitting research on stem
cell lines derived from previously destroyed embryos, the President has merely
postponed a serious moral dilemma that we will assuredly face again in the near
future.
Supporters of this research will not be content with
experimenting on existing embryonic stem cells if their research proves
promising. If scientists develop a cure for cancer or diabetes using these cell
lines, they will surely call for expanded research requiring the destruction of
human embryos. In the coming years, we will again be faced with the same
decision the President faced this past week. When that time comes, I fear that a
compromise like the one President Bush has offered will no longer be possible.
For the President, this decision was a pragmatic one. It satisfied
supporters of stem cell research with limited funding, and it pleased opponents
with a ban on further destruction of human embryos. I also truly believe
President Bush searched his heart in arriving at this conclusion. In his
statement, the President revealed that he had wrestled with his conscience and
with God over his decision.
I only pray that when some future leader of
the free world inevitably comes to the same crossroads on this issue he, too,
realizes the eternal moral consequences of his choice. When that day comes, may
he and we choose life, that we and our offspring may live. |
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