The Debate Over Stem Cell Research

The Gadsden Times

The Debate Over Stem Cell Research
By Rep. Robert Aderholt (AL-04)
Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Most of my time in Washington over the past 12 years has been spent defending conservative values and protecting the rights of the unborn. Unfortunately, I have seen more pro-choice Presidential executive orders passed over the last 3 months than any other time in my Representation of the 4th Congressional District.

It all started on January 23rd when President Obama rescinded the Mexico City Policy, a policy that prevents federal dollars from going to family planning groups abroad that provide or endorse abortion. This has been a cornerstone of American foreign policy for many years.

In February, the administration moved to overturn policy known as the “conscience clause” which is a President Bush administration policy that allowed health care workers to decline to provide or participate in any service that violates their beliefs. Under the rule, workers in health-care settings, from doctors to nurses and CNA’s could refuse to provide services, information or advice to patients on subjects such as contraception and family planning.

In late February, President Obama nominated Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. The concern about this nomination is that Sebelius vetoed many antiabortion bills as the governor of Kansas.

The latest pro-choice move by our current President was a move that we knew was coming, yet still came with shock and heartache. On March 9th, President Obama ended an eight-year ban on federal funding for new embryonic stem cell research, signing the executive order restoring funding for research on all lines of available embryonic stem cells.

For a third time in his young presidency, President Obama removed important protections for innocent life, further dividing our nation at a time when we need greater unity to tackle the many challenges that lie before us.

As a follow-up to these pro-choice decisions, the President is currently considering appointing a woman to the Office of Legal Counsel at the Department of Justice, named Dawn Johnsen. Ms. Johnsen opposes virtually all pro-life initiatives and even criticizes then-Senator Hillary Clinton for taking a “step in the wrong direction when she called for policy changes so that abortion ‘does not ever have to be exercised or only in very rare circumstances.’”

You have to be extremely liberal to criticize the conservativeness of Hillary Clinton in the area of abortion, but that’s exactly what Dawn Johnsen does.

Many of my pro-life colleagues and I have written a letter to the President urging him to withdraw his nomination of this woman, based on her radical liberal views in favor of abortion.

I fully support life and I support stem cell research, but I vehemently disagree with taxpayer-funded research that requires the destruction of human embryos, and millions of Americans feel the same.

Non-embryonic, or adult, stem cell research is not only showing great promise in the laboratory, but its applications are already being used to treat scores of diseases and medical conditions around the world.

In a March US World News & World Report story titled, “Why Embryonic Stem Cells Are Obsolete” Doctor Bernadine Healy wrote, “Even for strong backers of embryonic stem cell research, the decision is no longer as self-evident as it was, because there is markedly diminished need for expanding these cell lines for either patient therapy or basic research.”

The Doctor went on to write, “In fact, during the first six weeks of Obama's term, several events reinforced the notion that embryonic stem cells, once thought to hold the cure for Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and diabetes, are obsolete.”

The fact of the matter is that more and more scientist and doctors are beginning to subscribe to this belief that adult stem cell research is just as beneficial, and in some cases, more effective than embryonic stem cell research.

As I have repeatedly said, I am pro-stem cell research, so long as it does not mean taking a life as it does with embryonic stem cell research.

The bottom line is this: we all want to see cures and treatments for infants, children and adults who suffer from these various diseases. However, when we don’t have to destroy life in the process, why should we?

For release after March 23, 2009. For more information, please contact Darrell “DJ” Jordan at (202) 226-7602.