Then you certainly won’t mind if university and independent research facilities that rely heavily on government funds do embryonic stem cell research. As it stands now, these facilities have to spend a lot of extra money and go through all sorts of inefficient contortions to keep an absolute wall between their main operations that receive government funding and the small parts which involve embryonic stem cell research and don’t get any federal funding. The researchers aren’t allowed to share any lab equipment, and in some cases aren’t even allowed to share information between each other. This is all due to Catholic and other religion-based forces organizing to get a law passed prohibiting federal funding for embryonic stem cell research. Once they got the law passed, they demanded it be enforced to the letter, notwithstanding the beliefs of the researchers in all the facilities. But now they don’t want the taxpayer-funding connection to force THEM to comply with the law. They think regulations tied to government funding should apply to other people, but not to them. Won’t fly.
The question is, is it wise?
Are abortion politics worth more to the politicians and the public than the existence of hospitals in certain communities?
If the Church pulls its support for its hospitals under state-mandated terms with which it can not in good conscience agree, who fills in the gap?
And we get to the real issue...
They think regulations tied to government funding should apply to other people, but not to them. Won’t fly.
Wrong again. Stem cell regulations do not require scientists to violate their religious oaths, where the abortion requirement would. Secondly, I don't know if a hospital is even ALLOWED to turn away a medicare patient, as you suggest the Catholics should do if they want to have religious freedon.
Tell you what “intellectual powerhouse,” cite me just ONE study showing any beneficial clinical result from fetal stem cell research!
If you and your “lab mates” want to work on a perpetual motion machine, do so but not on MY dime! That is what these scientist clowns are holding forth: “if only we had the money, we could cure all diseases.”
Codswallop, as Dave said.
>> Then you certainly won’t mind if university and independent research facilities that rely heavily on government funds do embryonic stem cell research. <<
The constitution recognizes a freedom of religion. It does not recognize a freedom to engage in morally abhorrent forms of commerce, even if one does not recognize embryonic stem cell research for what it is: developing a market for the farming human body parts.
(That’s the idiocy of the embryonic stem cell debate: So you’re not killing any human beings, but the ends of the research is creating an industry which would offset the financial cost of destroying human beings.)
>> As it stands now, these facilities have to spend a lot of extra money and go through all sorts of inefficient contortions to keep an absolute wall between their main operations that receive government funding and the small parts which involve embryonic stem cell research and don’t get any federal funding. <<
They have to establish that federal funds are not being used to promote stem cell research. Besides, there’s a very simple solution: don’t do the research. Yes, Bush is asserting that no-one should ever do such research, and he is preventing the government from being complicit in evil. He is anti-stem-cell research, not just anti-choice on the issue of stem cell research. Likewise, the Connecticut legislature is pro-abortion, not just pro-choice on the issue of abortion, and that’s what is so reprehensible. But while there is a right to religious expression, there is no right to farm human embryos. So not only is the Connecticut legislature promoting abortion, they are also uniquely violating the seperation of church and state.
>> This is all due to Catholic and other religion-based forces organizing to get a law passed prohibiting federal funding for embryonic stem cell research. Once they got the law passed, they demanded it be enforced to the letter, notwithstanding the beliefs of the researchers in all the facilities. <<
Tough sh**. If you don’t like it, vote for someone else. The issues are, as a matter of law, not similar. Did you ever think maybe they would never have gotten funding for the lab equipment in the first place, if the voters knew that their support for the funding was going to aid acts they considered evil?
BESIDES, YOU MISS MY ENTIRE POINT:
A University which accepts grants is a creature of the state; the state is earmarking funds towards that university. A Catholic hospital is not. A Catholic hospital would be more comparable to a private institution that did not apply for state grants, but merely accepted state-funded tuition payments, such as scholarships or loans.
Pres. Clinton and his administration didn't allow federal funding of embryonic stem cell research, either. I didn't hear all of this whining then. If embryonic stem cell research is the greatest thing since the invention of the wheel, as its proponents seem to think, then where is all of the private investment that should be pouring in? Why are the researchers begging for federal funds? Why aren't they hitting up potential private donors for money?
To be blunt, you don't know jack. You are making this up. State legistlatures attempting to force Catholic/all hospitals to perform abortions and similar procedures has been going on for DECADES. Long before the embrionic stem cell issue was an issue. California has tried this multiple times and every single time they end up putting an exemption into the law because they knew it ultimately meant closed ERs.
One day, many years from now you will get the fully government controlled health care system you so desire. After all, as you and several others have stated, its the GOVERNMENT'S MONEY and therefore it comes with strings attached. Good, the government will get to provide the one-size fits all health system too. Good luck with that.