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July 20, 2006

The Embryonic Stem Cell Veto

Advocates of the culture of death have concentrated on the extreme ends of the life spectrum, oppressing the weak and the helpless whose lives depend on others and asserting that the humans at the earliest stages of life are without value. President Bush's recent veto of a bill that would release federal funding for stem cell research has been applauded by pro-life advocates. Representing disability advocates, Joni Eareckson Tada adds her support:

Joni Eareckson Tada was among those gathered at the White House in support of President George W. Bush as he vetoed a bill which would have expanded federal funding of research using human embryos from IVF clinics to harvest stem cells. Joining fellow disability advocates, ethicists, researchers, theologians and legislators Mrs. Tada, a spinal cord injured quadriplegic for nearly four decades observed, "I stand with countless Americans with disabilities who believe that our cause is not advanced when human life is sacrificed in hopes of finding a cure. People like me -- who are medically fragile -- are left vulnerable and exposed in a society that views human life as a commodity which can be experimented upon or exploited. Any research that destroys human embryos is an affront to God's creative authority."

The disability community has another vested interest in the Presidential veto -- despite lack of reporting by the media, people with disabilities can be encouraged by recent and dramatic advancements in adult stem cell research. During the course of a long bioethics debate over embryonic stem cells, science has out-run politics. Adult cells may be more elastic than scientists previously thought and are offering short-cuts to treatment which embryonic cells cannot match. Over 70 medical conditions are either being treated using adult stem cell therapies or are presently in clinical trials.

Posted by tim at July 20, 2006 9:39 PM

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