Obama Favors Stem Cells

Embryo killer! Science savior! The hullabaloo over Obama’s recent repeal of federal funding restraints on embryonic stem cell research could be framed in a number of different ways. Two possibilities follow:

1. Pro life vs. Pro choice. Here, the issue is once again, who is more important: the life not yet born, or the life currently suffering? The purpose of researching stem cells is to find better treatments for ailments and conditions affecting living, breathing human beings. Opponents of using embryonic stem cells (which can transform into any cell in the human body and therefore be used to generate healthy replacement tissue) for research argue that this research destroys human embryos, which are the equivalent of unrealized human lives. Proponents argue back that firstly, researchers usually procure their stem cells from fertility clinic surpluses that were destined to be destroyed, anyway. (1) Secondly, why should an undeveloped embryo deserve more protection and championship than a suffering child or even a fully developed adult? As one United States Representative, Jim Langerin, put it: “What could be more pro-life than research that would extend and improve the quality of life for millions of people who are struggling with some of life’s most challenging chronic conditions and diseases?” (2)
2. Scary Science vs. Safe Morals. One predominant fear over Obama’s lifting restrictions on embryonic stem cell research—in spite of his assertion that cloning for human reproduction is “dangerous, profoundly wrong, and has no place in our society”—is that this action moves us one step closer to human cloning. The National Right to Life Committee worries that his administration is allowing scientists the opportunity to “create, and then destroy, embryos through cloning for the sole purpose of harvesting stem cells.” (3) Scientists such as Dr. Curt Civin, one of the leading scientists who helped develop the technique for isolate stem cells, as well as the founding director of the Center for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine at the University of Maryland, try to pacify these doomsayers. “This was already life that was going to be destroyed. The choice is to throw [the embryos] away or use them for research.” (3)

The Bottom Line: The order Obama has overturned will allow federally funded research to use hundreds of new embryonic stem cell lines which, prior to that day, were limited to the lines created before August 2001 by legislation George W. Bush had signed while in office. Obama’s reasoning was thus, “Medical miracles do not happen simply by accident. They result from painstaking costly research.” (3) We can only hope that the resulting research will produce many such miracles.