President Barack Obama is expected to lift restrictions on federal funding of embryonic stem cell research today. Speaking against this decision is Catholic League president Bill Donohue:
“When President Bush placed restrictions on embryonic stem cell research, there was no way for scientists to approximate the effectiveness inherent in embryonic stem cells. But that is no longer the case. Last fall, Harvard University stem cell researcher Konrad Hochedlinger announced that he was able to coax adult cells to regress into an embryonic state. Scientists everywhere were ecstatic.
“It is precisely because there are ethical alternatives to killing embryos that President Obama’s decision is doubly flawed: (a) it is immoral to intentionally destroy nascent human life, and (b) it is even more irresponsible to do so when morally acceptable alternatives exist.
“Obama has stepped on a slope so slippery that many of his supporters may eventually regret he did so. It is not for nothing that Germany has the most rigorous ethical guidelines on human research. Our model should be 21st century Germany—not 20th century Germany.”
