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Groups make pitches on stem-cell research Web Posted: 03/08/2007 12:22 AM CST Gary Scharrer Austin Bureau AUSTIN - Separate groups invoking "pro-life" themes carried dramatically different messages through the Capitol on Wednesday about legislation allowing embryonic stem cell research in Texas. Texans for Advancement of Medical Research applauded Rep. Beverly Woolley, R-Houston, for filing House Bill 2704, which would protect adult and embryonic stem cell research while banning human cloning and setting ethical guidelines for stem cell research. More than 60 House members have signed on as co-sponsors of Woolley's bill. "Texans want this kind of common-sense legislation, which keeps hope alive for patients suffering from incurable medical conditions like diabetes and Parkinson's disease," Woolley said while surrounded by supporters of her bill. Elsewhere in the Capitol, scores of "pro-life and respect-life directors" of Texas' Catholic archdioceses asked lawmakers to support a variety of anti-abortion-related bills and to oppose legislation allowing embryonic stem cell research. "The whole point is that we're here to protect human life. If (embryonic cells) have been aborted, they would still have the dignity of being a human being, so we want to protect that," said Peter Monod, director of the Office of Social Concerns for the Archdiocese of San Antonio. "We need to protect all human life because if we allow one group of human beings not to be protected, then everybody's at risk." Supporters of embryonic stem cell research are misguided, Monod said. The supporters surrounding Woolley included young children suffering from juvenile diabetes and two colleagues with disabilities - Rep. Paul Moreno, D-El Paso, who is paralyzed, and Rep. Rick Hardcastle, R-Vernon, who has multiple sclerosis. "We tried to put together a bill that everybody ought to be for because of where we are in science," said Hardcastle, who lost a daughter to childhood cancer the same year of his multiple sclerosis diagnosis. But Virginia Pilkington, a San Antonio mother and schoolteacher who made the Capitol rounds with other church leaders, said adult stem cell research offers promising results. "It's not that the church is against stem cell research. It's embryonic versus adult," she said. "When you have embryonic research, you are destroying a human life that has been created by God." [log in to unmask] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn