You'd never know it by reading the headlines, or watching or listening to the news, but guess what?
Stem Cell Research, even embryonic stem cell research, is not, and has not been illegal.
Federal funding for it, under Bush, isn't even illegal for existing lines of embryonic stem cells. Something like 25 million federal dollars went to human embryonic stem cell research last year. But private funding has been neither illegal nor limited, nor has the research itself.
Proponents love to ridicule people with quaint notions of ethics ... "ideology" or "small thinking", as Obama likes to call it as being backward people who don't believe in science. But the fact is that many, many people in this country believe that it is wrong to kill a human embryo, that it is tantamount to murder, and they don't want any part in funding it. Why, then, should the coercive power of the government be allowed to force them to do it?
So next time you hear someone talking about "legalizing" stem cell research (oh, and federal funding of non-embryonic stem cell research has never been banned, either) -- keep this in mind.
No comments:
Post a Comment