Stem Cell Research: Background
WASHINGTON, DC — The U.S Senate passed S.5, the bill that finances scientific research that requires the destruction of living human beings in their embryonic stage of life. It passed on a 63-34 vote — only three votes more than the minimum amount needed to pass. On June 7, S. 5 was passed by the House of Representatives on a 247-176 vote, and will now go to the president, who has promised to veto it.
Quotes from Pope John Paul II
“The human being is single, unique, and unrepeatable, someone thought of and chosen from eternity, someone called and identified by name”
~ Christmas message, 1978
“Every individual man is an end in himself and can never be used as a mere means for reaching other goals not even in the name of the well-being and progress of the community as a whole.”
~ Address to health care workers, 1996
“The State is no longer the ‘common home’ where all can live together on the basis of principles of fundamental equality, but is transformed into a tyrant State, which arrogates to itself the right to dispose of the life of the weakest and most defenseless members . . .”
~ Gospel of Life, 1995
S.5 would require the federal government to “conduct and support research” that will most assuredly result in the destruction of living human beings in their embryonic stage of life. The research would be conducted using taxpayer funding.
The driving force behind this legislation is money. The biotech industry is anxious to pursue any avenue that will lead to new and profitable products, even at the expense of human beings at their poorest and most vulnerable stage of life. Justice demands that we stand up and defend our voiceless brothers and sisters.
Proponents and the media are trying to fool people into believing that this bill is just about stem cell research in general by dropping the adjective “embryonic” when discussing the bill. Stem cell research is good and should be supported, but not the kind of research that results in the death of human beings.
The tragedy is that this kind of research is not needed. Scientists and researchers are moving rapidly to find new ways of obtaining stem cells similar to those harvested from embryos. Additionally, published reports indicate that effective treatments have been developed from non-embryonic stem cells (from adults and cord blood) for more than seventy diseases while none have come from embryonic cells.