President signs ban on ‘fetus farming’
- Jul 24, 2006 -
President Bush not only vetoed July 19 legislation that would have funded stem cell research that destroys embryos, but he signed a bill outlawing “fetus farming.”
The Fetus Farming Prohibition Act, S. 3504, bars the acceptance of tissue from an embryo implanted or developed in a woman or animal for research purposes. Though no such experiments apparently have been performed with human beings, some researchers have aborted animal fetuses and harvested their body parts as a possible precursor, supporters of the new ban said.
Both houses of Congress passed the “fetus farming” ban unanimously, the Senate in a 100-0 vote and the House of Representatives by a 425-0 margin.
“Human beings are not a raw material to be exploited, or a commodity to be bought or sold, and this bill will help ensure that we respect the fundamental ethical line,” Bush said when announcing his signing of the measure.
ERLC President Richard Land said of the unanimous congressional support for the “fetus farming” bill, “All Americans should rejoice that not one senator or congressman voted against the ban on fetus farming. That’s an overwhelming statement of the moral reprehension with which the Congress looks upon the idea of creating embryos for the express purpose of killing them to harvest their fetal tissue.”
Bush had planned to sign on the same day a bill intended to protect human embryos while promoting stem cell research. The Senate voted 100-0 for the Alternative Pluripotent Stem Cell Therapies Enhancement Act, S. 2754, but the House fell 12 votes short of the two-thirds majority required to approve the proposal under a suspension of the rules. The vote was 273-154 in favor.
S. 2754 would require the funding of research into methods to procure pluripotent stem cells, which can develop into many kinds of cells and tissue, without creating or harming human embryos. The legislation would not endorse a specific method.
Rep. Michael Castle, R.-Del., sponsor of the destructive embryo stem cell bill vetoed by the President, led a last-minute campaign against the alternative proposal.
Land expressed disappointment enough House members “decided to play politics” to defeat the legislation. “This is tragic, because this research could lead in the very near future to being able to develop embryonic-like stem cells without having to kill an embryo in order to harvest such cells,” he said.
Rep. Dave Weldon, R.-Fla., a House pro-life leader, said of Castle’s successful campaign against S. 2754, “Supporters of H.R. 810 have consistently said that they support all avenues of stem cell research … until today. Tonight the mask came off, and we now know this: They want to exclude all science except that which requires the killing of embryos. That is as [ghastly] a position as I’ve seen in all my years on the Hill.”
Further Learning
Learn more about: Life, Stem-Cell Research, Citizenship, Legislation