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Rees and Katie, First of all Katie, Buffalo NY has already received over 100 inches of snow this year. Can Wisconsin top that? :) Here are some excerpts from past postings on this list. It seems most anti-abortion supporters of stem cell research have either experienced devastating diseases in their families, that this research holds promise for curing, or they have been convinced by patients advocates. Sen. Specter became one of the strongest supporters in the Senate for stem cell research and other PD research funding, due the efforts of a PWP from Penn., Jim Cordy. These remarks were made by Specter last fall,when it became clear the bill he had sponsored to remove restrictions on the research was not going to be brought to a vote in the Senate: Congressional Record September 28, 2000 [Page: S9447] Senator Specter: ....I have said publicly that I understand those on the other side of the issue. It involves taking an embryo which has been created for purposes of in vitro fertilization but not used. These embryos are discarded. There are some 100,000 embryos in existence today which will not be used. So the issue is whether you simply discard these embryos which will have no further effect, or whether you use these embryos to produce stem cells which can cure many very serious maladies. There are other alternatives such as adult stem cells. But the scientific evidence has been very compelling, in my judgment, that adult stem cells cannot do the job, but stem cells can from embryos. There are also stem cells from fetal tissue. Those stem cells are limited, and we really need the stem cells from these embryos to provide the research opportunities to cure so many of these ailments. This is not an issue which is going to lead to the creation of embryos for the purposes of extracting stem cells. When we have the fetal tissue discussion, many people are concerned that they will produce more abortions to have fetal tissue available. In fact, that was not the case--fetal tissue was used from abortions which would have occurred in any event. It is not a controversial pro-life versus pro-choice issue as we have had many Senators who are strongly pro-life support stem cell research in this legislation. Senator Strom Thurmond, who is very strongly pro-life and an acknowledged very conservative Senator, testified before the subcommittee in favor of this legislation to have Federal funding for extraction of stem cells from embryos. Senator Connie Mack of Florida has spoken about this bill, another pro-life Senator speaking in favor of it. Very strong statements have come from Senator Gordon Smith, who is pro-life and very concerned about these underlying issues, as to why he feels the balance is in favor of this sort of legislation. Since the issue was mentioned and there is not another Senator on the floor seeking recognition, I thought I would explain in abbreviated form where this legislation is pending, and why I have been pressing. It comes naturally within the subcommittee of appropriations which I chair. The prohibition against use of Federal funds to extract stem cells from embryos was placed in a bill which came out of this subcommittee. When the prohibition was imposed, there was no one who really knew the miraculous potential of stem cells, it being a veritable fountain of youth. This only came into existence with the research disclosed in November of 1998. Since that time, our subcommittee has had seven hearings to explore the issue very fully. ALSO: "Put to the Test: GOP Avoids Abortion For Now, but Science Is Stirring the Debate --- Research That Kills Embryos But May Fight Diseases Prompts Reassessments --- A Senator and His Conscience Wall Street Journal Eastern edition Aug 1, 2000 By Bob Davis p. A1 " PHILADELPHIA -- Republicans may have called a truce in their civil war over abortion, but don't expect it to hold. Scientific advances are reshaping abortion politics. Consider Sen. Gordon Smith. The National Right to Life Committee says the Oregon Republican voted the right way on abortion every time last year. But when an Oregon antiabortion activist asked him a few weeks ago to defend a prohibition on extracting stem cells from human embryos because the procedure kills the embryos, he declined. Someday, he told her, researchers might be able to turn such cells into neurons that would relieve the Parkinson's disease that has ravaged his family. "I've had many people who have died slowly," he told the activist. "Part of my pro-life ethic is to make life better for the living..." AND: From a Roll Call article by Mort Kondracke "During various Congressional fights to lift the ban, disease groups won over such pro-lifers as then-Sen. Bob Dole, R-Kan, and Sens. Strom Thurmond, R-S.C.; Pete Domenici, R-N.M.; Connie Mack, R- Fla.; and John McCain, R-Ariz. "Dole declared in one debate that permitting research to fight disease was 'the pro-life position to take.'