| Women's Thyroid Stem Cells eyed as alternative resource |
| by Michael Lasalandra (BOSTON HERALD - Dec. 14, 2001) |
| Boston - Researchers at New England Medical Center say they have found evidence of fetal stem cells in the thyroids of adult women and say the findings could offer another source of the cells that may be able to be used as sources of replacement parts or new tissues. |
| "We want people to consider that in the stem cell debate there may be another interpretation," said Dr. Diana Bianchi, chief of the NEMC/Floating Hospital department of genetics. |
| In 1996, researchers found fetal stem cells floating around in the blood of women who previously had been pregnant. The cells were left over from their babies. |
| In a new paper, to be published tomorrow in the LANCET, Bianchi reported finding evidence of fetal stem cells in the thyroids of adult women who had once been pregnant. In 16 of the 29 women studied, fetal cells were found in the thyroid containing the Y chromosome, indicating they were from their babies. In one of the women, researchers found fully differentiated male thyroid cells attached to the rest of the thyroid. |
| In essence, "one part of her thyroid was male and one part was female," Bianchi said. |
| The finding could indicate that the stem cells made a new thyroid. |
| New Study shows Dangers of Embryonic Stem Cell |
| * * * * * * * * |
| Reason, Science, & Stem Cells |
| Why killing embryonic human beings is wrong |
| By Patrick Lee & Robert P. George |
| [Pro-Life Infonet Note: Mr. Lee is associate professor of philosophy at |
| the Franciscan University of Steubenville. Mr. George is the McCormick |
| Professor of Jurisprudence at Princeton University.] |
| At the heart of the debate over federal funding of embryonic-stem-cell |
| research is the question whether human embryos are human beings. Perhaps |
| the most plausible argument that they are not takes the form of a reductio |
| ad absurdum. Ronald Bailey, science editor of Reason magazine, argues that |
| the possibility of cloning human beings from ordinary somatic cells, such |
| as the skin cells millions of which each of us rubs or washes off our |
| bodies on any given day, means that human embryos are no different in |
| substance and value from such cells. But nobody maintains that skin cells |
| are human beings; therefore it is an error, Bailey concludes, to suppose |
| that embryos are human beings. We need be no more concerned about |
| destroying embryos than we are about shedding skin cells. |
| Bailey's article is entitled "Are Stem Cells Babies?" The title itself is |
| fallacious. No one claims that stem cells are human beings (or "babies"). |
| Rather, human embryos, from whom stem cells are sometimes obtained, are |
| living, albeit very young, human beings. What has been proposed is the |
| obtaining of stem cells by dissecting these living human beings. We |
| object, not to the use of stem cells as such (which can be obtained |
| elsewhere, without killing), but to the dismemberment of live human beings |
| as a means to obtain them. |
| Bailey argues that each of our own cells has as much potential for |
| development as any human embryo. He notes that cloning has shown that each |
| of our cells has the genetic information necessary for producing an entire |
| human embryo, when joined to an enucleated (nucleus removed) ovum and |
| placed in the right environment. Each cell (Bailey notes) has the entire |
| DNA code; it has become specialized (as muscle, skin, etc.) by most of |
| that code being turned off. In cloning, those portions of the code |
| previously de-activated are re-activated. Bailey quotes Australian |
| bioethicist Julian Savulescu: "If all our cells could be persons, then we |
| cannot appeal to the fact that an embryo could be a person to justify the |
| special treatment we give it." |
| Bailey's argument fails because his proposed analogy between somatic cells |
| and human embryos is false. The analogy is false for two reasons. First, |
| the kind of potentiality possessed by each of our cells differs profoundly |
| from the potentiality of the human embryo. In the case of somatic cells, |
| each has a potential only in the sense that something can be done to it so |
| that its constituents (its DNA molecules) enter into a distinct whole |
| human organism (which is a person). In the case of the human embryo, he or |
| she already has the potential to actively develop himself or herself to |
| the further stages of maturity of the same kind of organism he or she |
| already is. |
| True, the whole genetic code is present in each somatic cell, and this |
| code can be used for guidance of the growth of a new entire organism. But |
| this point does nothing to show that its potentiality is the same as that |
| of a human embryo. In cloning, the nucleus of an ovum is removed and a |
| somatic cell is placed in the remainder of the ovum and given an |
| electrical stimulus. Such acts do much more than bring out the latent |
| potentialities of a cell, or merely place a cell in a new environment. The |
| somatic cell is unable to produce a new embryo by itself, but must work |
| together with an enucleated ovum; unlike a new embryo, it needs more than |
| just the right environment to develop to a mature stage of a human being. |
| A change in environment is merely external. But the result of cloning is |
| an entirely new organism: There is an internal change in the kind of thing |
| present. The evidence for this is the entirely new direction of its |
| activities and reactions. Thus, the relevant potentiality of somatic cells |
| is merely that their genetic materials can be used, in conjunction with an |
| enucleated ovum, to generate an embryonic human being. But the |
| potentiality of the human embryo, like that of the human infant, is |
| precisely the potentiality to mature as the kind of being it already is -- |
| a human being. Somatic cells, in the context of cloning, are analogous, |
| not to embryos, but to gametes (sperm and egg). Just as a person who comes |
| into being as a result of the union of gametes was never a sperm or an |
| egg, a person who is brought into being by a process of cloning was never |
| a somatic cell. But you and I truly were once embryos, just as we were |
| once fetuses, infants, and adolescents. These are merely stages in the |
| development of the enduring organism -- the human being -- we are. |
| Bailey may be running into some confusion because the fact that a human |
| embryo has a complete human genetic code in each of his or her cells is |
| part of the proof that he or she is a distinct human being. But it is only |
| part: the other evidence is that its genetic code is distinct from that of |
| the mother, it is growing and developing by virtue its own direction, the |
| direction of this growth is the mature stage of a human being, and so on. |
| In other words, having the entire human genetic code shows that an entity |
| is human, but other facts show that the human embryo is distinct (distinct |
| from any cell of its mother or father). And still other facts show that it |
| is whole (not functionally a part of a larger organism), a |
| self-integrating member of the human species. |
| The second reason why Bailey's analogy is false is that it ignores the |
| most obvious difference between any of our cells and a living human |
| embryo, a difference that is crucial for discerning how they should be |
| treated. Each of our cells is a mere part of a larger organism; but the |
| embryo is himself or herself a complete, though immature, organism. |
| Somatic cells are not, and embryonic human beings are, distinct, |
| self-integrating organisms capable of directing their own maturation as |
| members of the human species. |
| In fact, Bailey's argument from the possibility of cloning amounts to a |
| red herring. Cloning shows only that human beings can be produced |
| asexually, something we already knew with identical twins (the second twin |
| comes to be with the splitting of the original embryo, which occurs in |
| about 1 in 270 live births). |
| Scientists, science writers, philosophers, and others involved in the |
| debate over embryonic-stem-cell harvesting hold various views of the |
| ethics of embryo destruction. The facts of science, however, are clear: |
| Human embryos are not mere clumps of cells, but are living, distinct human |
| organisms, the same as you and I were at earlier stages of our lives. With |
| the fusion of sperm and ovum, or with the coming to be of a distinct and |
| complete (though immature) human organism either by (identical) twinning |
| or by cloning, there is present a distinct organism which will (unless |
| prevented) actively develop himself or herself to a more mature stage as a |
| member of the human species. This new organism directs its own growth, |
| coordinating from within all of its elements and forces toward his or her |
| own survival and maturation. |
| It will not do to say that these are human beings but not "persons." You |
| and I are essentially human, physical organisms. That is, we do not have |
| organisms; we are rational, animal organisms. Therefore, we -- that is, |
| the persons we are -- come to be precisely when the animal-organisms we |
| are come to be. The human person is a bodily entity -- not a mere |
| consciousness using a body -- and so the human person comes to be at |
| conception. |
| Nor will it do to say that the individual that you are did come to be at |
| conception but that you became valuable, or deserving of respect, only |
| much later in your duration. You yourself and I myself are intrinsically |
| valuable, not mere carriers or vehicles for what is intrinsically valuable |
| (such as pleasant or interesting experiences). For, if we were mere |
| carriers or vehicles of what is intrinsically valuable, it always would be |
| permissible to kill one child provided people agreed to replace him or her |
| with two others. But that is ludicrous. Therefore, persons, at whatever |
| age or condition, are valuable simply by virtue of being persons, that is, |
| things that have the basic capacity to shape their own lives, even if it |
| may take them some time to develop that capacity, or even if some defect |
| blocks the actualization of that capacity. All persons, of whatever race, |
| sex, nationality, or age, are deserving of full respect, and none should |
| be treated as mere means for use -- for example, dissected for their body |
| parts -- by stronger persons. |
| Finally, the pro-life position is widely reported (even by some not |
| hostile to it) as being opposed to stem-cell research because human |
| embryos "are life." This is inaccurate. They are not just "life," or even |
| human life, but distinct, individual, living members of the human species, |
| just as you and I were at an earlier stage of our lives. The proposal to |
| dissect these individuals for their spare parts -- and to implicate all of |
| us in this injustice by publicly funding and promoting it -- is |
| grotesquely immoral. |
| From: The Pro-Life Infonet <infonet@prolifeinfo.org> |
| Reply-To: Steven Ertelt <infonet@prolifeinfo.org> |
| Subject: Why Killing Embryonic Human Beings is Wrong |
| Source: National Review; July 20, 2001 |
| * * * * * * * * |
| PONTIFICAL ACADEMY FOR LIFE: |
| Declaration on the production and the scientific |
| and therapeutic use of human embryonic stem cells |
| (STEM CELL RESEARCH: With the burgeoning effort to destroy human embryos |
| through the harvesting of stem cells, it is urgently important to revisit the |
| fact that a single cell human embryo is a human being, a person who is |
| deserving of respect. The principles set forth in the following Vatican |
| document issued by The Pontifical Academy for Life are the same whether one is |
| discussing human embryonic stem cell research, in vitro fertilization or |
| contraception. Any process that destroys these people or has the possibility |
| of destroying these people is illicit. |
| Judie Brown President American Life League Inc.) |
| [Excerpts follow. For the entire document, see: |
| http://www.all.org/communique/cq001013.htm] |
| The first section will very briefly set out the most recent scientific data on |
| stem cells and the biotechnological data on their production and use. The |
| second section will draw attention to the more relevant ethical problems |
| raised by these new discoveries and their applications. |
| Although some aspects need to be studied more thoroughly, a commonly accepted |
| definition of "stem cell" describes it as a cell with two characteristics: |
| 1. The property of an unlimited self-maintenance - that is, the ability to |
| reproduce itself over a long period of time without becoming differentiated; |
| and |
| 2. The capability to produce non-permanent progenitor cells, with limited |
| capacity for proliferation, from which derive a variety of lineages of highly |
| differentiated cells (neural cells, muscle cells, blood cells, etc.). |
| For about thirty years stem cells have provided a vast field of research in |
| adult tissue, in embryonic tissue and in in vitro cultures of embryonic stem |
| cells of experimental animals. But public attention has recently increased |
| with a new milestone that has been reached: the production of human embryonic |
| stem cells... |
| There were high hopes that the application of this knowledge would lead to new |
| and safer ways of treating serious diseases, something which had been sought |
| for years. But the impact was greatest in the political world. In the United |
| States in particular, in response to the long-standing opposition of Congress |
| to the use of federal funds for research in which human embryos were |
| destroyed, there came strong pressure from the National Institutes of Health |
| (NIH), among others, to obtain funds for at least using stem cells produced by |
| private groups; there came also recommendations from the National Bioethics |
| Advisory Committee (NBAC), established by the Federal Government to study the |
| problem, that public money should be given not only for research on embryonic |
| stem cells but also for producing them. Indeed, persistent efforts are being |
| made to rescind definitively the present legal ban on the use of federal funds |
| for research on human embryos. |
| Similar pressures are being brought to bear also in England, Japan and |
| Australia... |
| The first ethical problem, which is fundamental, can be formulated thus: Is it |
| morally licit to produce and/or use living human embryos for the preparation |
| of ES cells? The answer is negative, for the following reasons: |
| 1. On the basis of a complete biological analysis, the living human embryo |
| is - from the moment of the union of the gametes - a human subject with a well |
| defined identity, which from that point begins its own coordinated, continuous |
| and gradual development, such that at no later stage can it be considered as a |
| simple mass of cells. |
| 2. From this it follows that as a "human individual" it has the right to its |
| own life; and therefore every intervention which is not in favour of the |
| embryo is an act which violates that right. Moral theology has always taught |
| that in the case of "jus certum tertii" the system of probabilism does not |
| apply. |
| 3. Therefore, the ablation of the inner cell mass (ICM) of the blastocyst, |
| which critically and irremediably damages the human embryo, curtailing its |
| development, is a gravely immoral act and consequently is gravely illicit. |
| 4. No end believed to be good, such as the use of stem cells for the |
| preparation of other differentiated cells to be used in what look to be |
| promising therapeutic procedures, can justify an intervention of this kind. A |
| good end does not make right an action which in itself is wrong... |
| The second ethical problem can be formulated thus: Is it morally licit to |
| engage in so-called "therapeutic cloning" by producing cloned human embryos |
| and then destroying them in order to produce ES cells? |
| The answer is negative, for the following reason: Every type of therapeutic |
| cloning, which implies producing human embryos and then destroying them in |
| order to obtain stem cells, is illicit; for there is present the ethical |
| problem examined above, which can only be answered in the negative. |
| The third ethical problem can be formulated thus: Is it morally licit to use |
| ES cells, and the differentiated cells obtained from them, which are supplied |
| by other researchers or are commercially obtainable? |
| The answer is negative, since: prescinding from the participation - formal or |
| otherwise - in the morally illicit intention of the principal agent, the case |
| in question entails a proximate material cooperation in the production and |
| manipulation of human embryos on the part of those producing or supplying |
| them. |
| In conclusion, it is not hard to see the seriousness and gravity of the |
| ethical problem posed by the desire to extend to the field of human research |
| the production and/or use of human embryos, even from a humanitarian |
| perspective. |
| Judie Brown, October 13, 2000 Vol. 10, #39 |
| * * * * * * * * |
| elusive goal." |
| Source: Cybercast News Service, Associated Press; July 16, 2001 |
| taxpayer-funding ban. |
| Source: U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops; July 11, 2001 |
| think that's going to be a widely supported position. |
| * * * * * * * * |
| Harvard Researcher: Adult Stem Cells May Eliminate Need Embryonic Ones |
| Boston, MA -- The permanent reversal of Type 1 diabetes in mice may end |
| the wrenching debate over harvesting stem cells from the unborn to treat |
| adult diseases. Researchers at Harvard Medical School killed cells |
| responsible for the diabetes, then the animals' adult stem cells took over |
| and regenerated missing cells needed to produce insulin and eliminate the |
| disease. |
| "It should be possible to use the same method to reverse Type 1 diabetes |
| in humans," says Denise Faustman, the associate professor of medicine who |
| leads the research. Setting up a trial for patients has already begun at |
| Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. |
| Type 1 diabetes is an "autoimmune" disease in which the body's blood cells |
| attack its own organs and tissues. Such maladies include rheumatoid |
| arthritis, multiple sclerosis, lupus, and more than 50 other ailments. |
| Faustman believes that many of them may be similarly cured by poisoning |
| the offending cells and letting adult stem cells regrow replacement |
| organs. |
| "Once the disease is out of the way, adult stem cells regenerate normal |
| organs and tissues," Faustman says. "What is more, we should be able to |
| replace damaged organs and tissues by using adult stem cells, thus |
| eliminating, at least temporarily, the need to harvest and transplant stem |
| cells from embryos and fetuses. Of course, it will take years before we |
| know for sure if we can do this in humans." |
| Stem cells from embryos have the ability to grow into all other types of |
| cells. They may be able to mature into brain cells to repair damage from |
| strokes, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases; into heart cells to heal |
| the ravages of heart attacks; and into organs to replace those ruined by |
| cancer. But problems exist in getting such cells to mature into a specific |
| type of cell and to home in on a specific place. There's also the problem |
| of stopping them from growing once the repair is made. Uncontrolled growth |
| may lead to tumors. |
| The existence of adult stem cells raises the question of why the body |
| doesn't use them on a regular basis to heal itself. It may be because |
| adult stem-cell populations are small and need some sort of outside |
| stimulation. There's recent evidence that additional adult cells injected |
| into mice start to repair heart attack and stroke damage. |
| In the diabetes experiments, cells that attack insulin-producing islet |
| cells in the pancreas were destroyed. The researchers intended to follow |
| up the killings with transplants of healthy islet cells but, to their |
| surprise, this turned out to be unnecessary because adult stem cells took |
| over the work. |
| "It was a miracle that we didn't expect," Faustman comments. |
| An estimated 16 million people have diabetes in the United States. About |
| 10 percent of these patients suffer from Type 1, which used to be called |
| juvenile diabetes because it commonly appears between ages 10 and 16. Type |
| 1 diabetics cannot make insulin to convert blood sugars into energy, so |
| they must inject themselves daily with the hormone to survive. New cases |
| have tripled in the United States in the past 50 years. |
| Type 2, formerly called adult-onset diabetes, usually occurs gradually |
| after age 40, and often can be managed by diet and exercise. The two types |
| together are the leading cause of kidney failure, adult blindness, and |
| limb amputation, as well as major risk factors for heart disease, strokes, |
| and birth defects. |
| Faustman isn't sure if her technique will work with Type 2 diabetes. "We |
| really don't know if replacing the islet cells will do the job," she says. |
| "Some experts think that the resistance to insulin comes from outside the |
| pancreas. There's also the possibility that Type 2 diabetics used up their |
| stem cells at a faster rate," which decreases their repair capacity. |
| The Harvard-Massachusetts General Hospital team believes they can move |
| from mice to humans because the same defective pathways exist in both |
| species. "We always begin our projects with human cells," Faustman |
| explains. "When we observe something important but can't experiment with |
| patients, we go to mice." |
| The defective pathway in both humans and mice has been known for years. |
| It's been well-studied in cancer and AIDS research, but everyone missed |
| its connection to autoimmune disease until Faustman's lab hit upon it. |
| The defect involves a genetic mutation that causes white blood cells to |
| attack the insulin-producing cells. It's as if the body rejects part of |
| itself because it cannot tell the difference between normal cells and |
| foreign invaders like viruses or bacteria. Faustman's team found they |
| could destroy the offending cells with drugs. |
| When given to the mice, a compound known as CFA boosted the production of |
| another substance known as tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF). Years ago, |
| researchers tested TNF as a cancer drug, then as an AIDS treatment, but |
| have abandoned it since. |
| TNF wiped out cells that couldn't tell self from nonself, but this was |
| believed to be only a temporary respite. Everyone thought it could only |
| last until the body made new white blood cells with the same defect. To |
| counter this inevitability, they planned another treatment to re-educate |
| the new cells so they would not attack insulin-making tissues in the |
| pancreas. |
| Once the diseased cells were out of the way, however, adult stem cells |
| took over and grew new islets in 40 days. |
| "At first we thought we had failed," Faustman recalls. She and her |
| colleagues planned to follow up by transplanting healthy islet cells grown |
| in their laboratory. "But the biological indicators we saw were not what |
| we wanted for such transplants. Then we gradually realized that there were |
| now islet cells where none had existed 40 days before. It was astonishing! |
| We had reversed the disease without the need for transplants." |
| "These results are remarkable and surprising," comments David M. Nathan, |
| the Harvard professor of medicine who will attempt to do the same |
| experiments with humans at Massachusetts General Hospital. "We need |
| careful studies to find out if we can delete the offending blood cells in |
| humans in the same way that it was done in mice. Adult stem cells in these |
| mice were apparently inactive or suppressed until cells that attacked the |
| pancreas were removed. We don't know yet if human adult stem cells can |
| accomplish the same regeneration. If they can, and it will take years to |
| find out, that opens the way to treating other autoimmune diseases like |
| multiple sclerosis and rheumatoid arthritis." |
| From: The Pro-Life Infonet <infonet@prolifeinfo.org> |
| Reply-To: Steven Ertelt <infonet@prolifeinfo.org> |
| Subject: Harvard Researcher: Adult Stem Cells May Eliminate Need Embryonic Ones |
| Singapore Catholic Doctors Pray Against Embryo Stem Cell Research |
| Singapore -- Singapore's hopes of becoming a biomedical hub have hit an |
| ethical snag with a group Roman Catholic doctors staging a prayer vigil |
| against the use of human embryos in research. |
| The Catholic Medical Guild of Singapore, made up of some 300 doctors, |
| kicked off 10 days of prayer on Wednesday against embryonic stem cell |
| research. |
| "We are praying that embryonic stem cell research will be discontinued, |
| not just in Singapore but throughout the world," guild president Dr John |
| Hui told Reuters on Thursday. "We were human at the point of inception... |
| and we believe that absolute respect should be accorded to the human |
| embryo from the very beginning of life." |
| Singapore has poured at least S$3 billion ($1.7 billion US) into boosting |
| research and seeding start-ups in the city state's fledgling life sciences |
| industry but has no regulations so far. The government also has a stake in |
| Australia-based company ES Cell International, which is emerging as a |
| major player in the production and supply of embryonic stem cells for |
| research. |
| Singapore's Bioethics Advisory Committee (BAC) is expected to present |
| legal and ethical guidelines to the government by the end of the year |
| after gathering public feedback and studying regulations adopted around |
| the globe. "At the moment there are no official national guidelines," |
| Professor Lim Pin, chairman of the BAC, told Reuters. "Eventually a |
| balanced position will be taken." |
| Hui said the guild has presented its objections to the BAC. |
| "We don't engage in protests," he said. "We hope and pray they will |
| seriously take a stand that will be on the side of the embryo." |
| However, Hui said the guild was not opposed to the use of adult stem cells |
| in research, which can be gathered non-destructively. |
| In January, Britain became the first country to allow the use of human |
| embryos in stem cell research and the reproduction of human stem cells -- |
| so-called therapeutic cloning -- even as other nations debate the ethics |
| surrounding such research. |
| Singapore has attracted many multinational pharmaceutical manufacturers to |
| its shores and hopes to be equally successful as a research hub. |
| From: The Pro-Life Infonet <infonet@prolifeinfo.org> |
| Reply-To: Steven Ertelt <infonet@prolifeinfo.org> |
| Subject: Singapore Catholic Doctors Pray Against ESCR |
| Source: Reuters; August 16, 2001 |
| Pro-Life Groups Continue to Lobby Bush on Embryo Stem Cell Research |
| Washington, DC -- The leaders of several prominent pro-life organizations, |
| joined by some of their allies in Congress, are warning President Bush |
| that he risks demoralizing many of his core supporters if he flip-flops on |
| his previously stated opposition to federal funding for stem-cell research |
| that involves killing human embryos. |
| As late as May 18, Bush sent a letter to the Culture of Life Foundation, |
| saying, "I oppose federal funding for stem-cell research that involves |
| destroying living human embryos." |
| Since then, however, Bush has indicated that he is deliberating whether to |
| change his position. |
| "This is an emotional issue that goes right to the heart of the pro-life |
| movement," pro-life Rep. Lee Terry (R-NE) said. "If the president changes |
| his position on embryonic stem-cell research one inch, he moves the bar |
| and forces those of us who strongly believe that life begins with |
| conception to have to make bigger arguments. A change by the president on |
| this critical issue would demoralize us as a movement." |
| Family Research Council President Ken Connor said: "Any abdication by |
| President Bush of his campaign pledge to oppose embryonic research will |
| fracture his pro-life base, which was essential to his election in the |
| first place. It will absolutely inhibit his ability to marshal the |
| critical mass that he will need from his base in order to be re-elected." |
| Eagle Forum President Phyllis Schlafly agreed. |
| "We expect Bush to maintain current law against stem-cell research," she |
| indicated. "To do otherwise will severely damage his credibility, as well |
| as the pro-life cause." |
| Gary Bauer, who ran against President Bush for the Republican nomination |
| last year and who now serves as president of American Values, said: "No |
| one would have asked in the elder Bush's administration if a reversal of |
| his 'Read My Lips' pledge would have severely hurt him with economic |
| conservatives. Likewise, social conservatives must be serious about our |
| values. If such a complete reversal on a fundamental issue does not damage |
| him with cultural conservative supporters, one would have to conclude that |
| no serious social conservatism exists." |
| Would a Bush turnabout on stem-cell research actually lead pro-life |
| advocates to abandon the President in 2004 and vote for a Democrat or |
| third-party candidate out of spite? "No," said Michael Schwartz of |
| Concerned Women for America. "It's not that we would vote for the other |
| guy; it's just that we would have a very hard time getting our circles to |
| work for Bush in the next election." |
| Schwartz, a longtime congressional aide, said, "Bush's staff has already |
| turned this stem-cell issue into high-stakes political poker by waiting |
| and suggesting he might be reconsidering his position. It makes me very |
| uneasy to see him in doubt." |
| Pro-life Rep. Walter Jones (R-NC), noting that Bush had won the highest |
| percentage of Roman Catholic voters since Ronald Reagan in 1984, said he |
| "was very concerned that if Bush ever changed his position, he would hurt |
| himself with Catholic voters. His strong showing among Catholics was due, |
| at least in part, to his positions on issues such as this. It would hurt |
| him with the conservative base, and most notably Republican Catholics, if |
| his position on embryonic stem-cell research ever changed." |
| If the President were to change his position, said pro-life Rep. John |
| Shadegg (R-AZ), it would "get him in some deep trouble" in 2004. |
| "Conservatives are watching this issue with great interest and concern," |
| said Focus on the Family President James C. Dobson. "I believe President |
| Bush will make an enormous mistake if he reverses himself on the |
| preservation of embryonic life. It is our prayer that he will honor his |
| campaign pledge and protect human life from conception to the grave." |
| From: The Pro-Life Infonet <infonet@prolifeinfo.org> |
| Reply-To: Steven Ertelt <infonet@prolifeinfo.org> |
| Subject: Pro-Life Groups Continue to Lobby Bush on ESCR |
| Source: Human Events; August 6, 2001 |