Senate vote on funding destructive research nears

By Tom Strode - Jul 15, 2005 - comment

The Senate is expected to vote soon on a bill to provide federal funds for research that destroys human embryos.

The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission urged 16 Republican and two Democratic senators to vote against the measure in a July 13 letter from its president, Richard Land. In June, the Southern Baptist Convention approved a resolution opposing destructive embryonic research and calling on the Senate to defeat legislation supporting funds for such experimentation.

The pro-embryonic stem cell bill, sponsored by Sen. Arlen Specter, R.-Pa., is the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act, S. 471. It has 40 cosponsors. The House of Representatives passed a companion bill, H.R. 810, in a 238-194 vote in May.

The measure would change President Bush’s policy and permit funds for research that uses embryos left over at in vitro fertilization clinics. The President’s rule allows funding for research only on embryonic stem cell lines already in existence prior to his August 2001 announcement of the policy. Bush has promised he will veto the bill if it reaches his desk. The House fell about 50 votes short of the two-thirds majority that would be needed to override a veto.

The Senate may vote on as many as four or five other bills regarding stem cells and other bioethics issues, including two the ERLC strongly supports: A comprehensive ban on human cloning and funding to establish a bank for stem cells from umbilical cord blood. The Human Cloning Prohibition Act, S. 658, has 32 cosponsors. The Bone Marrow and Cord Blood Therapy and Research Act, S. 1317, has 21 cosponsors.

The House voted 431-1 in May for its version of the cord blood bill, the Stem Cell Therapeutic and Research Act, H.R. 2520.

The extraction of stem cells from such non-embryonic sources as umbilical cord blood, bone marrow, fat and placentas does not harm the donor.

You may contact your senators by calling the Capitol switchboard, (202) 224-3121, or by emailing through the ERLC’s website.

Further Learning

Learn more about: Life, Cloning, Stem-Cell Research, Citizenship, Legislation

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