Stem Cell Research
Is President Bush blocking important medical research?
By Marcia Clemmitt

President George W. Bush used his veto power for the first time on July 19, stopping a bill that would have increased federal funding for research on embryonic stem cells (ESCs). The cells might provide cures for diseases ranging from Alzheimer's to diabetes. ESCs are thought to have more disease-treating potential than similar cells found in adults, but they are controversial because harvesting them. . . .

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Does embryonic stem cell research amount to murder?

Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan. Excerpted from the Congressional Record, June 29, 2006	Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D. Excerpted from the Congressional Record, July 10, 2006

Religious Views Vary on Stem Cell Research

Polls indicate that a majority of Americans favor embryonic stem cell (ESC) research. However, 29 percent of Americans said they either “somewhat” or “strongly” oppose it, and 57 percent of the opponents based their opposition on religious principles, according to a 2005 poll by the pro-ESC research group Research America. The following sampling reflects the wide range of religious views on the morality of ESC research:

Religious Groups That Generally Approve of ESC Research

• United Methodist Church — At its 2004 general conference, the church, of which President George W. Bush is a member, approved ESC research using excess embryos from in vitro fertilization (IVF). “Given the reality that most, if not all, these excess embryos will be discarded, we believe that it is morally tolerable to use existing embryos for stem cell research purposes. This position is a matter of weighing the danger of further eroding the respect due to potential life against the possible, therapeutic benefits that are hoped for from such research.”

• Committee on Jewish Law and Standards of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism — The committee in 2003 “overwhelmingly” approved ESC research. Research on cells from excess frozen IVF embryos slated for discard is permissible “for research into creating cures for a number of human ailments,” and the synagogue should “publicly advocate” for use of the cells “in all appropriate ways,” the group said.

• General Convention of the Episcopal Church — A task force to the 2003 convention concluded that making research use of embryos that would otherwise be discarded is “in keeping with our call to heal the afflicted.”

• Islam — Among Muslims as among Christians, beliefs vary. Some Islamic groups and scholars support ESC research. For example, IVF is permissible in Islam as long as the embryo is implanted into the mother whose egg was used to create it, not a surrogate mother, wrote Muzammil Siddiqi, past president of the Islamic Society of North America. And, while an embryo outside the womb “has the potential to grow into a human being, it is not yet a human being,” according to Muslim law, Siddiqi wrote. That being the case, “there is nothing wrong in doing this research, especially if the research has a potential to cure diseases,” if the embryo used would otherwise simply be wasted.