Chief Judge Royce C. Lamberth of the Federal District Court for the District of Columbia ruled that President Obama’s 2009 executive order that expanded embryonic stem cell research ruling violated a ban on federal money being used to destroy human embryos.
The Court issued an order that prevents the Obama Administration from carrying out its embryonic stem cell research policy while a lawsuit against it proceeds in court. While we welcome Judge Lamberth’s ruling, it remains unclear if it will lead to the outright ban on federal funding of embryonic stem cell research. Often lost in the debate concerning this ruling is the fact that to date immoral embryonic stem cell research has produced little results while the morally acceptable adult stem cell research has led to real scientific advances. The hype surrounding embryonic stem cell research is that it is “promising” and has “great potential.” Federal funding of this “promising” research is supported by the Obama Administration and sadly the Rhode Island Congressional Delegation including Congressman Jim Langevin. What Langevin, who has recently described himself as pro-life, and others fail to comprehend is that this “promising” research is evil and immoral.
Authentic pro-life opposition to embryonic stem cell research is based upon the reality that it is the direct killing of a human life. All too often the church’s pro-life opposition to this immoral science is quickly and erroneously dismissed as religious zeal and the sectarian blocking of “enlightened” scientific research. The church has long supported scientific research however it cannot ever support stem cell research on human embryos because it is morally evil. Rather the church enthusiastically supports the morally acceptable research of adult stem cells which has produced real advances and is truly promising. In fact, the Vatican recently announced a joint initiative with an international bio-pharmaceutical company to raise awareness and expand research of adult stem cell therapy.
It is high time that the media reveal the myths and eliminate the hype surrounding embryonic stem cell research. It has shown little promise despite the millions of dollars spent supporting it. It is highly immoral to spend any dollars but especially taxpayer dollars on such morally wrong research. However, adult stem cell therapy is not only morally acceptable but has produced fruitful advances. These are the facts. It’s high time that our political leaders accept them and reject the myths and the hype. We call upon “pro-life” Congressman Langevin to face the facts and finally abandon his misguided enthusiasm for immoral and fruitless embryonic stem cell research as well as his support for the taxpayer funding of this moral evil. We call upon the Congressman to come home again to the pro-life principles that have guided his public service in years past and to clearly reject the empty hype and false promise of the moral evil that is destruction of human embryos in the name of science.
