Disability Rights Advocate Backs Bush Embryonic Stem Cell Research Bill Veto (Joni Eareckson Tada)

Life News ^ | 7/20/06 | Steven Ertelt

[wagglebee]

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- A disability rights advocate who has been a spinal cord injured quadriplegic for nearly four decades says she is happy President Bush vetoed a bill that would have forced taxpayers to fund embryonic stem cell research. Joni Eareckson Tada was among those gathered at the White House as the president announced why he vetoed the measure.

Joining fellow disability advocates, ethicists, researchers, theologians and legislators, Tada said she stands 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," she explained.

Tada said 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, she said.

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.

“I am grateful for the principled stand our President has taken, first and foremost because of the sanctity of human life, but also because restrictions on use of taxpayer dollars may well encourage funding in the overlooked and less commercially viable field of adult stem cell therapy," Tada explained.

Tada's views contrast with those of Michael J. Fox, a well-known actor who suffers from Parkinson's disease.

Fox blasted Bush's veto claiming it went against public opinion, even though polls show a plurality of Americans oppose tax-funding of embryonic stem cell research.

"I find it frustrating that the president would use his first veto of his time in office to thwart this research," Fox said.

"I am respectful of those who oppose this research and their reasoning for it but they do represent a minority," he added.

Related web sites:
Joni and Friends International Disability Center - http://www.joniandfriends.org

[srmorton]

I don't think she was claiming to speak for the entire disabled community. She was merely offering her own opinion to which she is entitled. As others on this thread have already said, there is nothing to prevent private investment in embryonic stem cell research because the research itself is not banned, only federal funding of it. IMO, there is nothing in the constitution that specifically authorizes the federal government to be involved in paying for any medical research at all.

[cva66snipe]

So, if we find embryonic stem cells helps people with SCI's then I encourage you and your wife both to not us the treatment. However, the vast majority of the disabled community will be lined up day one...

I doubt it very very seriously in this old world it's gonna happen anyway. Think about something. Where would Joni be right now had she not had her SCI? Her adversity which she overcame by both faith and her own efforts have served her well. If her SCI had been cured within days or months where would she be?

You will never have an illness free existence in this world as we know it. It simply is not going to happen. Yet some of the greatest advances come from the ones with the illness. Einstein had a learning disability one which allowed him to also be able to channel his thought process. Or how about a master musician/composer functionally deaf? A one handed concert pianist? An Apostle in the Christian faith who was most likely functionally blind yet who wrote much of the New Testament letters. A blind mind who in the 1800's developed a reading system for the blind still used today. Ray Charles, Stevie Wonder, Ronnie Milsap, would they have the talent they acquired without their adversity? Or was their tallents a direct result of what dealing with their adversity produced? Carly Simon and Mel Tillis both stutter yet both sing.

You would think someone who spent the last 39 years of her life in a wheel chair with only limited finger movement would pay any price to be free from it. Joni has been in that chair roughly since 1967. I have no doubt if Adult Stem Cell research provided a cure she would probably try it. I also have no doubt she did weigh the moral implications and even the cost of using Embryonic Stem Cells as well before saying what she did. She is a highly intelligent woman.

And how do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul£ in the process? Is anything worth more than your soul?

[devane617]

What a load of Horse%^$# . I would eat a dump truck load of frog crap if I thought it would help. I DO NOT feel like I am serving some "greater purpose" because I have a disability. I want to be 6'3", truck driving, beer drinking, hooker chasing, abled body guy. Screw touchie-feelie...give me frog crap....or embryonic stem cells, I don't care, just make it happen...By the way -- How much money is the good ole USA Federal Gov spending on AIDS research?

[SuziQ]

"I find it frustrating that the president would use his first veto of his time in office to thwart this research," Fox said.

Just shows how emotion can cloud the facts. The President didn't say that research couldn't be done, he just vetoed FEDERAL FUNDING for it. Private researchers are free to pursue this work on their own dime, or on those of whom think the research might actually become profitable.

[cva66snipe]

I want to be 6'3", truck driving, beer drinking, hooker chasing, abled body guy

Yep that is a real admirable goal and would do you and humanity so much good. /sarcasm. But Joni understands an eternal principle and reality that you don't. She knows she will be freed from her quadriplegia forever. She understand the soul exist forever but this CURSED body we have on earth does not as it is to be replaced. Think about it.

Ever wonder why there are more diseases known to man than man can now ever hope to cure? We suffer the results of such things as bird flu or Mad Cow disease perhaps because man in his arrogance altered what was perfection or at least kept such in a natural state of which these diseases did not mutate to the killers they are.

I'm not anti-scienticic research nor anti-modern medicine. But I would rather have an average skilled doctor who prays and acknowledges that life and death are GOD's sovereign right to give and take and for his hands to be guided over one who thinks his acquired skills and mans greatness is the ultimate answer.

Think about Aids since you wish to bring it up. Several theories are thought to be it's origin. A creation in a laboratory gone wrong or unnatural sex with animals. Yes innocents catch it but it spreads like wildfire though in a life style which honors the sole agenda of self gratification. Spending money to find cures to AIDS is not necessary as the disease is by in large preventable to start with much of it caused by some selfish persons life choices and their actions then harm the innocents as well. The most sure way to spread AIDS has been known now for two decades. Yet the behavior which gives that disease the strongest foothold to spread is now endorsed and blessed by our government as being a right.

Billions of dollars could have been saved and millions perhaps at this point billions of lives saved if man would control his behavior. But that goes completely against the New Age of SELF Pleasure teachings. I know quite a few SCI's myself. Let's remember SPI means Spinal Cord Injury a result of accidents. Some like Joni's were flukes. Many are also the result of just plain bad irresponsible actions like seeing how fast that new motor cycle or car can go. They out number spinal cord diseases likely by a very high ratio. Strange enough some I know who had SCI just didn't get the message the first time and try for seconds with very unnecessary risk.

In my youth the biggest threat to being put in a wheel chair was Polio. Oddly enough it was PREVENTION that helped eliminate the disease. Much of it required better sanitation standards and some of it was vaccine. BTW my wife is a quad from Polio's 30 year later revisit to her CNS namely her Mylein. Polio still isn't curable BTW even half a century after the vaccines were developed.

I'm not in a wheel chair and to look at me you would see nothing to indicate a disability. But Adult stem cell research may one day produce a cure for what I have although at this point the doctors can't actually even name it as it is multiple Neurological dysfunctions mostly involving sensory processing. I've had it most of my 48 years with only the last 12 of it finally to the point of disability.

That disability put me early in life in a place where I would learn that life can be lived with or without a wheel chair and content of heart makes the person. IOW I've been around it all my life including two cousins with spinal cord diseases. I've seen friends with MD, CP, Autism, Spinal Bifia, Blindness, Deafness, Polio, ADD ADHD, you name it.

When my girlfriend went quadriplegic while we were on a date I knew we still had a future. We had a future because there was life. The death of my first wife made me appreciate my more my wife now. We don't dwell on cures although she would love to be back on her feet. But rather we share a codependency on each other now. She hears what I can't. I lift what she can't. She's a lucky quad for C-5-C-6 and she knows it. She's an incomplete quad. She had arms, hands, and limited trunk. 21 years ago this coming September the doctors told her she would never move her arms again. Well when I want a needle threaded she does it. Was it the doctors who got her there? No. It was prayer and her determination as well. It took the Physical Therapist to even find the signs that she previously as a child had Polio.

As much as she would love to walk though she would rather be healed of other far more damaging things namely some issues from the 35 years of abuse from various persons before the quadriplegia happened. Those hurts are the ones that bother her the most. Joni's writings though was one who helped her come to terms with many issues beyond the wheel chair. Healing comes in many forms the most important being healing the part of us we take with us through eternity which is the soul.

[8mmMauser]

Pinged from Terri JULY Dailies

8mm

[exit82]

So, how many unique human beings should we kill to fix your particular problem?

[devane617]

"...But Joni understands an eternal principle and reality that you don't. She knows she will be freed from her quadriplegia forever. She understand the soul exist forever but this CURSED body we have on earth does not as it is to be replaced. Think about it..."

In your first paragraph you presumed the status of my soul/salvation and I stopped taking you seriously.

[devane617]

...So why not protest IVF clinics? Aren't they the real culprits?

[cva66snipe]

In your first paragraph you presumed the status of my soul/salvation and I stopped taking you seriously.

I presumed NOTHING about your soul. But rather I have actually read her books and what I posted in that paragraph came from what she has written and teaches. Anybody on this thread who has read her books will tell you that.

[devane617]

Joni understands an eternal principle and reality that you don't

[cva66snipe]

Joni understands an eternal principle and reality that you don't

Uh not understanding that does not condemn your soul. It simply means you don't understand that principle :>}

[truthczar2000]

I can't tell you how much I appreciate your posting. Both of my parents developed polio when they were young. My mom ended up a paraplegic with limited use of her right arm. My dad was affected in his arms but managed to recover to almost full normality. My parents had 3 children. They did not dwell on all the things they couldn't do and hope for any sort of cure. They simply have lived out their lives by compensating for their inconveniences. My parents, who are in their seventies now, have had what anyone would call a sucessful and fruitful life. And my mother will be the first to tell you that sacrificing a human life, ANY human life, simply for the convenience of another is wrong.

I would also remind other posters that the Nazis commited the atrocities they commited all in the name of making life better for the German people.

[exit82]

I'm not a fan of IVF. I like to think that God is looking out for me, and if that means no kids, I would then adopt if that was how He leads.

Doctors use human logic with IVF embryos--let's get a bunch in case the one we choose doesn't work. Like playing the odds in gambling.

The problem is, each chip in the game is a unique human being.

So if a couple is going to go the IVF route, I say use one embryo at a time. To do otherwise and then discard the others as so much trash, is immoral and inhuman. You see, when you play God, you have to make difficult decisions.

The real culprits are the people who approach IVF in a reckless manner. The clinic merely facilitates their desires. And yes, if the clinic throws out human embryos as so much trash, they are a culprit also.

[mombonn]

Bless you, Joni! You'll have all of eternity to dance!

[mombonn]

How beautiful she is after all those years in a wheel chair.

She is an inspiration.

[wagglebee]

Yes she is.

[Krodg]

You could always join this thread and give them your support...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x1680245