Posted on 07/29/2005 6:08:02 AM PDT by Tumbleweed_Connection
Breaking with President Bush, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist said Friday he now supports legislation to remove some of the administration's limitations on embryonic stem cell research.
Frist, an abortion opponent who just last month said he did not support expanding federal financing of research on embryos, said his decision was consistent with both his experience as a physician and his anti-abortion stance.
"Now is the time to expand the president's policy because it's promising research, but it must be done in a way that is ethically considerate, that respects the dignity of human life," said Frist, who also is a heart and lung transplant surgeon.
The Tennessee Republican, who has been said to be eyeing a run for the GOP presidential nomination in 2008, said only stem cells from embryos that "would otherwise be discarded," not implanted in a woman or frozen indefinitely, should be considered for research.
Bush has threatened to veto legislation for expanded financial support for stem cell research. A bill to finance more stem cell research has passed the House, but has been stalled in the Senate. Frist's support could push it closer to passage and set up a confrontation with Bush.
Interviewed on ABC's "Good Morning America," Frist said his decision was based on policy, not politics.
Almost two-thirds of Americans say they support embryonic stem cell research and a majority of people say they would like to see fewer restrictions on taxpayer funding for those studies, according to recent polls.
"From those cells we have the potential for looking at those diseases that everybody knows about, Parkinson's, Alzheimer's and others," Frist said.
The senator planned to further outline his policy in a speech on the Senate floor later Friday, explaining why he believes embryonic stem cell research should be encouraged, even though he is "strong pro-life" and considers the embryo to be "life in its earliest stage of development."
To many abortion opponents, the two views seem to conflict. Frist says they do not.
"I give huge moral significance to the human embryo, it is nascent human life, what that means is as we advance science, we treat that embryo with dignity, with respect," Frist said.
He credited Bush with opening the doors for federal funding of embryonic stem cell research, and said when this policy was announced in 2001, policy-makers thought 78 stem cell lines would be available. Since then, the number has dropped to 22.
"Those 22 cell lines are not of the quality for human application or human therapy, and that's why today I believe we need to modify that policy," Frist said.
When Bush announced his position on stem cell research, he said the government should pay only for research of stem cell colonies, or lines, that had already been created at that time, so that the "life or death" decision had already been made.
Frist said additional stem cells should be used, so long as there was a careful process of informed consent in which the parents had decided that the embryos should be discarded, not adopted or frozen.
And if the choice comes down to dividing the Republican party unto defeatable weaness which may put Hillary into the Presidency?
What then?
I do not believe Americans will elect a female Democrat as President. The first female President will be Republican.
Suppose a Democrat wins weve still got the House and Senate and the Supreme Court. After 4 years of Democrat mis-rule we will have a Republican again and the Republican Party will know the power of Us Christians and will pay Real Attention to our Demands.
I didn't believe New Yorkers would elect an insane marxist cow as Senator.
As the president said, it is wrong to kill one life for the benefit of another.
In addition to that, we are taking $$ away from ADULT stem cell research which has already cured thousands.
EMBRYONIC stem cells have not cured a single person since it's inception in 1998 (I believe that is the year.).
Vote in the primaries so we will have a decent choice.
Just imagine what would happen with Socialist Healthcare or rather Government Enforced Death. You'd have to pay for OTHER people's genetic susceptibilities and/or lifestyle habits (smoking, drugs, drinking, etc).
Fact is we're already paying for others' self-destructive habits, either by paying huge medical insurance premiums or paying the taxes that support Medicare & Medicaid. Not everyone of course, but a very high percentage of people in a hospital at a given time are there due to cigarettes, alcohol, bad diet, drug use, and no exercise. The profile: obese person chain smoking, drinking beer while driving to a fast food restaurant to buy monster burger with fries. Or lifetime smoker and drinker who now has heart disease, lung cancer, liver disease and diabetes. Or homosexual drug user performing sodomy. We are already paying. More socialist health insurance plans (see Hillary Clinton) would ruin the economy of the U.S.
Late Embryo Farming for Cells or Organs
In Will Saletan's fourth installment in Slate, he demonstrates further how embryonic stem cell research is not going to remain in the Petri dish.
Now, some apparently have decided to draw the line that cannot be crossed (yea, right) at the transition point from embryo to fetus, meaning 8 weeks or so. That would permit cloning, implantation, and harvesting or drug testing of late stage embryos.
I don't know if Saletan approves or disapproves. This isn't the point. What he has done ably is reveal a mindset that, by a process of continual redefinition of terms and stretching of moral boundaries, will steadily move cloning through implantation, organ harvesting, birth, and into genetic engineering. The goal is unfettered research.
http://www.wesleyjsmith.com/ (blog)
CLONING will be next, if we can't stop this mad science.
You know what really gripes me is the slippery slope we have all accepted. Remember when ethicists challenged the idea of test tube babies because that would lead us to "play God?" "But what about the tragic infertile couples who can't have children, we can't deny them." So the argument was made.
This thread is about yet another type of stem-cell research (this time from placentas) that does not destroy life but which probably won't take place if Frist's plan to federally fund embryonic stem-cell reserach becomes law: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1457588/posts
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