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Bush's own church supports stem cell research! by simplicio Wed Jun 20, 2007 at 05:06:32 PM PDT As you know, President Bush vetoed the Stem Cell Research Bill today. To be honest, I couldn't care less what the United Methodist Church has to say about ethics. I think society gives far too much weight to the pronouncements of religious leaders. But that's a whole other topic. You do have to wonder who supports President Bush's position when even his own church disagrees with him. simplicio's diary :: :: The United Methodist Church has issued a position on the ethics of stem cell research which I largely agree with. You can read it all here Ethics of Stem Cell Research I'll highlight a few excerpts. In vitro fertilization (IVF) is a clinical practice in which a woman's ovaries are hyper-stimulated to release several eggs, which are extracted and subsequently fertilized in a laboratory dish. This is for the purpose of creating embryos to be introduced into the uterus in the hope of implantation, gestation, and eventual birth. Current practice usually involves the extraction of up to 15-16 eggs for fertilization. The resulting embryos that are judged most viable are either introduced into the womb in the initial attempt or frozen and stored for possible later use. Some of the embryos are judged to be less viable than others and are discarded. (Those stored embryos that are not later used become the "excess embryos" whose use as a source of embryonic stem cells is currently under discussion.) There is the crux of the issue. The stem cells being considered for research already exist and are currently frozen! No one is advocating creating embryos with the intent of immediately destroying them for research. We're talking about using embryos that come into being as a result of attempts at in vitro fertilization. Does the religious right think couples using IVF are evildoers and murderers? Maybe some people do. If so, get out there and start marching on IVF clinics throwing blood on infertile couples as they walk in. What does President Bush's church think should be done with these existing embryos? Given the reality that most, if not all, of these excess embryos will be discarded-we believe that it is morally tolerable to use existing embryos for stem cell research purposes. This position is a matter of weighing the danger of further eroding the respect due to potential life against the possible, therapeutic benefits that are hoped for from such research. The same judgment of moral tolerability would apply to the use of embryos left from future reproductive efforts if a decision has been made not to introduce them into the womb. We articulate this position with an attitude of caution, not license. We reiterate our opposition to the creation of embryos for the sake of research. This atheist concurs! Instead President Bush has decided to stubbornly pander to his willfully ignorant base, the 30 percenters who get a warm fuzzy feeling inside about "protecting innocent life" by insisting that already existing embryos continue to help no one by remaining frozen. Last time Bush spoke about stem cell research he invited families with "snowflake babies," babies resulting from the adoption of frozen embryos to attend his remarks. So far, 84 families have adopted frozen embryos. There is an estimated 400,000 frozen embryos in existence today and growing fast. By using Karl Rove's "the math" one might think embryo adoption is a solution for what to do with all these additional embryos. As a resident of the reality-based community, I beg to differ. simplicio on Wed Jun 20, 2007 at 05:04:58 PM PDT Rayilyn Brown Board Member AZNPF Arizona Chapter National Parkinson's Foundation [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