The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops launched a campaign yesterday to oppose federal funding of embryonic stem cell research. From the USCCB site:
Following President Obama’s March 9 executive order, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has proposed guidelines for federally funded embryonic stem cell research. The guidelines would – for the first time – use taxpayer funds to encourage the killing of embryonic human beings for their stem cells.
This marks a new chapter in divorcing biomedical research from its necessary ethical foundation, respect for human life at all stages.
Embryonic stem cell research treats innocent human beings as mere sources of body parts, as commodities for our use.
Even if, like the embryos targeted by the NIH policy, an embryo may be at risk of being abandoned by his or her parents in a fertility clinic, that does not give researchers or the government a right to kill that human being – much less a right to make the rest of us subsidize that destructive agenda.
Some in Congress and the Administration want an even broader policy. They want to obtain stem cells by destroying human embryos specially generated for research through in vitro fertilization (IVF) or cloning procedures – a “create to kill” policy.
Neither of these policies is ethical or promotes responsible science. They both violate the fundamental right to life.
Patients suffering from devastating illnesses deserve our compassion and our committed response – but not at the cost of innocent life. The Church supports ethical stem cell research and treatments that do no harm and respect the inherent dignity of persons – cutting-edge medical advances that are already benefiting patients with dozens of conditions in clinical trials.
It is time to focus on cures and treatments we can all live with.
Go Catholic bishops!
Question: Where are those Lutherans?!?
