| >Candidate John Kerry is spreading very serious misinformation regarding |
| >> stem cell research. Among many errors, he insists that miraculous cures |
| >> are just around the corner. Leaving aside the serious ethical concerns |
| >> with destroying human embryos, the results of embryonic stem cell research |
| >> are nil. Destructive embryonic stem cell research has not treated a single |
| >> patient or a single disease. Adult stem cells, however, have successfully |
| >> treated thousands of patients, and more than 90 diseases. |
| >> September 7, 2004 Volume 2, Number 5 |
| >> |
| >> Candidate Kerry Misleads Public on Stem Cell Research |
| >> |
| >> With election day less than two months away Democratic presidential |
| >> candidate John Kerry continues to campaign on his support for destructive |
| >> embryonic stem cell research while painting President George Bush as an |
| >> enemy of science who has put a stop to all stem cell research. One |
| >> prominent scientist who specializes in studying the thorny questions |
| >> surrounding bioethics says much of Kerry's rhetoric is unfair and |
| >> inaccurate. |
| >> |
| >> Father Tadeusz Pacholczyk is a priest of the Diocese of Fall River, |
| >> Mass. who holds a Ph.D. in neuroscience from Yale, did post-doctoral work |
| >> at Harvard and studied theology and bioethics in Rome. He says the chief |
| >> error made by Kerry is his insistence that a reversal of Bush's stem cell |
| >> policy will offer immediate cures to some of society's worst diseases. "He |
| >> has bought into the general line that by destroying embryos we are going |
| >> to be immediately opening up radical new cures for all kinds of ailments." |
| >> In a radio address delivered in early August Kerry said, "some of the most |
| >> pioneering cures and treatments are right at our fingertips, but because |
| >> of the stem cell ban, they remain beyond our reach." He has continued to |
| >> use such language throughout his campaign. |
| >> |
| >> Pacholczyk said the promise offered by embryonic stem cell treatment |
| >> is actually unknown and so far completely unsuccessful. But what is known, |
| >> he said, is that embryonic stem cell treatments come with risks. |
| >> "Embryonic research does offer a speculative project that has already a |
| >> number of discernable drawbacks and limitations. For example these are |
| >> tumor-forming cells; when you place them into animal models they turn into |
| >> tumors with great readiness." |
| >> |
| >> Research and treatments using adult stem cells are 20 to 30 years |
| >> ahead of embryonic stem cell research, according to Father Pacholczyk. |
| >> Thousands have benefited from therapies using adult stem cells including |
| >> those suffering from spinal cord injuries and Parkinson's Disease. Father |
| >> Pacholczyk said that in blurring the distinction between embryonic and |
| >> other types of stem cells, Kerry obscures the true ethical concerns of |
| >> critics. It is not stem cell research that critics oppose but the creation |
| >> of human embryos for the specific purpose of using them for research and |
| >> destroying them in the process. In the August radio address Kerry said, |
| >> "Three years ago, the President enacted a far-reaching ban on stem cell |
| >> research, shutting down some of the most promising work to prevent, treat |
| >> and cure Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, diabetes, AIDS and so many other |
| >> life-threatening diseases." Yet President Bush never enacted a ban on stem |
| >> cell research. He only prohibited federal funds from going to support |
| >> research on embryonic lines created after August 2001. |
| >> |
| >> The question of cloning is one that cannot be separated from |
| >> embryonic stem cell research. For future treatments to be effective it |
| >> will likely require that the person being treated be cloned. Stem cells |
| >> from their own embryo would then be extracted and in the process the |
| >> embryo would be destroyed. Pacholczyk said that scientists often receive |
| >> little to no ethical training and that the ethical questions that emerge |
| >> from their research are often not addressed until it is too late. |
| >> "Scientists and the enterprise of science itself tend to move forward in |
| >> as much of an autonomous mode as they can in the sense that they don't |
| >> explicitly break open questions of ethics unless they sort of push |
| >> themselves onto your front porch and suddenly you have to confront them. |
| >> That has happened with embryonic stem cell research." Kerry's approach |
| >> does not seem to take these new ethical concerns seriously. "He's |
| >> interested in expanding federal funding immediately for not just cell |
| >> lines that Bush approved but for all cell lines and presumably to allow |
| >> for the active destruction of in vitro embryos as well. It sounds like he |
| >> wants to throw the doors open on this without too many if any |
| >> restrictions." |
| >> |
| >> Copyright, 2004 --- Culture of Life Foundation. Permission granted for |
| >> unlimited use. Credit required. |
| >> |
| >> Culture of Life Foundation |
| >> 1413 K Street, NW, Suite 1000 |
| >> Washington DC 20005 |
| >> Phone: (202) 289-2500 |
| >> Fax: (202) 289-2502 |
| >> E-mail: clf@culture-of-life.org |
| >> Website: http://www.culture-of-life.org |
| John Kerry: President Bush's Policy on Embryonic Stem Cell |
| Research "Extremist" |
| http://www.lifenews.com/bio485.html |
| by Steven Ertelt |
| LifeNews.com Editor |
| October 4, 2004 |
| Hampton, NH (LifeNews.com) -- Just days after he criticized |
| President Bush in the first presidential debate, John Kerry |
| continued to relentlessly attack the president on his decision to |
| limit taxpayer funding of unproven embryonic stem cell research. |
| Campaigning in New Hampshire, the Democratic presidential nominee |
| said Bush "is making the wrong choice to sacrifice science for |
| extreme right-wing ideology." |
| According to an Associated Press report, Kerry called Bush's |
| decision "a far-reaching ban on federal funding for stem cell |
| research, tying the hands of our scientists, driving some of them |
| away from America.'' |
| Bu the Bush campaign says the president did not ban funding for |
| all embryonic stem cell research -- pointing to $190 million |
| dollars in federal funds from the National Institutes for Health |
| for research involving adult stem cells. |
| Prior to the Bush administration, the federal government did not |
| spend any money advancing stem cell research. |
| "John Kerry has made a repeated effort to mislead the press and |
| the public on the reality of the new federal funding for stem |
| cell research that the President announced in August 2001," the |
| Bush campaign said in a statement. |
| The Bush campaign criticized the media for adopting the language |
| Kerry and running mate John Edwards have used. |
| "Numerous media outlets have adopted their language, referring to |
| the President's new funding as a ban," the Bush campaign said. |
| "These characterizations are inaccurate or incomplete, and |
| misinform the public on the reality of the policy." |
| Actor Michael J. Fox, a Parkinson's disease sufferer who has |
| repeatedly blasted the president on the issue, joined Kerry at |
| the New Hampshire campaign stop. |
| Kerry, who promises $100 million for embryonic stem cell research |
| funding, accused President Bush in the first presidential debate |
| of not telling the truth about embryonic stem cell research. |
| During Thursday night's presidential debate, John Kerry said he |
| would avoid attacking President Bush's character when following |
| up a question Bush received from moderator Jim Lehrer. |
| "I'm not going to talk about a difference of character. I don't |
| think that's my job or my business," the Democratic candidate |
| said. |
| That didn't stop Kerry from blasting the president on the issue |
| of using human embryos in research. |
| "He's not acknowledging the truth of the science of stem-cell |
| research," Kerry said. |
| -- reproductive and so-called therapeutic cloning for research. |
| National Right to Life Committee - http://www.nrlc.org |
| John Kerry Surrogate Blasts President Bush on Embryonic Stem Cell Funding |
| http://www.lifenews.com/bio426.html |
| by Steven Ertelt |
| LifeNews.com Editor |
| August 17, 2004 |
| Manchester, NH (LifeNews.com) -- At a forum organized by |
| presidential candidate John Kerry's campaign on Monday, a |
| Nobel-prize winning scientist blasted President Bush's policy |
| preventing taxpayer funding of embryonic stem cell research. |
| Robert Horvitz, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| biologist, said that Bush's August 2001 policy is preventing the |
| unproven research from moving forward. |
| "This is a topic of science and medicine, but it's a topic that's |
| become embroiled in politics," Horvitz said, according to an |
| Associated Press report. |
| Horvitz backed federal funding of efforts to obtain stem cells |
| from frozen human embryos left over from in vitro fertilization. |
| "Some people who oppose embryonic stem cell research say the |
| problem of curing these diseases is very far in the future," he |
| said. "My response is: Let's get on with it." |
| However, Horvitz also admitted that embryonic stem cell research |
| is not going to produce cures for some diseases and that it may |
| be as long as ten years before treatments could be available. |
| "Maybe making stem cells an issue in this election will make |
| George W. Bush change his mind," Horvitz said. |
| But editorial columnist Paul Greenberg, in a recent article, says |
| President Bush, unlike Kerry, "has taken seriously the ethical |
| problems raised by this kind of experimentation." |
| "Whatever one thinks of the course George W. Bush chose, he took |
| the ethical problem seriously," Greenberg explains. "John Kerry |
| just brushes it aside." |
| Greenberg also says spending taxpayer funds on research that may |
| not yield results is wasteful. |
| "Senator Kerry also seems indifferent to the likelihood that |
| government funding for stem-cell research would soon enough lead |
| to highly profitable embryo farms in order to supply the demand |
| for human building blocks," Greenberg says. |
| In his column, Greenberg says the Kerry campaign has |
| inappropriately used the issue of stem cell research for |
| political gain. |
| "John Kerry has co-opted those scientists who, seeing either |
| profit or career advancement in embryonic stem-cell research, |
| have failed to speak out about the profound questions, |
| life-and-death questions, such experimentation raises," Greenberg |
| writes. |
| "They've let the senator get away with pretending that embryonic |
| stem-cell research is some kind of magic wand he can wave over |
| Alzheimer's and make it disappear." |
| Kerry has said one of his first actions as president will be to |
| overturn Bush's policy and mandate taxpayer funding of destroying |
| embryos for stem cells. |
| John Kerry's Campaign Takes $ From Late-Term Abortion |
| Practitioners |
| http://www.lifenews.com/nat844.html |
| by Steven Ertelt |
| LifeNews.com Editor |
| October 4, 2004 |
| Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- In a revelation that is causing |
| a huge stir among pro-life advocates, three late-term abortion |
| practitioners have made thousands of dollars of donations to the |
| campaign of Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry. |
| For those involved in the debate about partial-birth abortion, |
| Martin Haskell's name is familiar. He is credited with inventing |
| the grisly procedure that has been banned in dozens of states and |
| by Congress. |
| Haskell, and infamous late-term abortion practitioners Warren |
| Hearn of Colorado and George Tiller of Kansas, have donated a |
| total of $7,000 to the Kerry campaign. |
| While that's not a huge sum compared with the millions top |
| pro-abortion organizations are spending to oust President Bush, |
| pro-life advocates say it's noteworthy that notorious men who |
| perform abortions very late in pregnancy are willing to finance |
| Kerry's campaign for president. |
| "[T]hese contributions are worth scrutinizing because of what |
| they reveal about John Kerry," write National Right to Life |
| legislative director Douglas Johnson in the Weekly Standard. |
| Johnson said the "Kerry campaign apparently readily accepted the |
| contributions--money that might very well have originated in fees |
| charged to perform partial-birth abortions or other late |
| abortions." |
| According to Johnson, the donations point to Senator Kerry's |
| extreme view on abortion -- a point validated by Kerry's six |
| votes against a partial-birth abortion ban over the last several |
| years. |
| The donations also reflect the abortion practitioner's confidence |
| in Kerry's statements that he will only appoint judges to the |
| Supreme Court that are willing to uphold Roe v. Wade and, |
| apparently, partial-birth abortions. |
| "Most likely, these abortionists are quite aware that Kerry has |
| promised to nominate only Supreme Court justices who share his |
| real position on abortion policy--which would guarantee that |
| partial-birth abortions and other late abortions, and of course |
| earlier abortions, would remain almost entirely shielded from |
| scrutiny or restriction by elected lawmakers for the foreseeable |
| future," Johnson explained. |
| Kerry's campaign did not respond to a request for comment. |
| According to records Johnson obtained, Martin Haskell wrote a |
| check to the Kerry campaign for $2,000 on June 30, 2004. |
| In 1994, Haskell wrote a seminal paper presenting the new |
| partial-birth abortion method. He has since filed a lawsuit |
| seeking to overturn an Ohio law implementing the FDA's safety |
| recommendations for using the dangerous RU 486 abortion drug. |
| George Tiller, who operates a late-term abortion business in |
| Wichita, Kansas, sent the Kerry campaign a contribution of |
| $1,000, recorded March 17, 2004. |
| Tiller has come under fire recently for botching women's |
| abortions and three staff members resigned earlier this year. |
| Between September 15, 2003, and June 25, 2004, Colorado late-term |
| abortionist Warren Hearn gave Kerry the maximum allowed amount of |
| $4,000. |
| Hearn says he performs abortions as late as the eight month of |
| pregnancy, shortly before birth. |
| John Kerry Hides His Position on Abortion, West Virginia |
| Newspaper Says |
| http://www.lifenews.com/nat825.html |
| by Steven Ertelt |
| LifeNews.com Editor |
| September 27, 2004 |
| Wheeling, WV (LifeNews.com) -- A leading newspaper in the key |
| presidential battleground state of West Virginia says Democratic |
| nominee John Kerry, who backs abortion, is misleading the voters |
| there. The Wheeling News-Register says Kerry "doesn't seem to be |
| able to provide a straight answer to a simple question." |
| The pro-abortion candidate is attempting to conceal his views, |
| the newspaper alleges, "because Kerry wants voters to see in him |
| what they want to see, regardless of how he really stands on |
| important issues." |
| In its editorial, the Wheeling newspaper cites Kerry's response |
| to a questionnaire from the Associated Press as example of Kerry |
| trying to cover up stances that wouldn't play well in pro-life |
| states, such as West Virginia. |
| When asked if girls should be required to tell their parents |
| before having an abortion, President Bush offered what the |
| News-Register called a "straightforward" answer. |
| "I will continue to support parental notification laws so that |
| parents are involved in the decisions of their minor daughters," |
| the president said. |
| But Kerry's response was: "Like any parent, I believe that |
| parents should be fully involved in all decisions regarding their |
| children. But we also have to take into account possible family |
| dysfunction, including abuse or incest. I will not force a girl |
| who has been abused by a family member to ask the rapist for |
| permission in making a difficult and heart-wrenching choice. Too |
| many proposed laws have failed to include common 'bypass' |
| provisions to protect the victims of these brutal and unspeakable |
| crimes." |
| Kerry mischaracterized the content of virtually all parental |
| involvement laws, which have a Supreme Court-mandated bypass |
| provision. |
| In fact, states such as Texas and Michigan are working to address |
| the problems bypass provisions cause -- namely, the rubber-stamp |
| process where judges approve almost all requests for a judicial |
| bypass. |
| Even leading abortion advocates acknowledge that they resort to a |
| practice called "judge shopping" in order to find a judge who |
| will approve abortions without parental involvement for virtually |
| any case they present. |
| Kerry has refused to support the Child Custody Protection Act, a |
| bill in Congress to stop the abuse of parental involvement laws |
| by abortion advocates taking teenage girls to states without such |
| laws for secret abortions. |
| In analyzing his response, the West Virginia newspaper said, |
| "Kerry never did answer the question concerning the vast majority |
| of girls seeking abortions, who are not victims of abuse by |
| family members." |
| "Most Americans are aware that Kerry's position on abortion is |
| ultra-liberal," the Wheeling newspaper concluded. "His refusal to |
| provide straight answers to questions on the issue is intended to |
| disguise that fact -- but it won't work." |
| Media, John Kerry Supporters Misuse Cardinal's Abortion Comment |
| http://www.lifenews.com/nat800.html |
| by Steven Ertelt |
| LifeNews.com Editor |
| September 9, 2004 |
| Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- A leading Catholic priest is |
| taking the media and supporters of presidential candidate John |
| Kerry to task for misusing a comment by a Vatican official to |
| make it appear that Catholics can vote for pro-abortion |
| candidates without violating important church teachings. |
| With headlines such as "Catholic Voters Given Leeway on Abortion |
| Rights Issue," and "Catholics Allowed Some Discretion on Abortion |
| Rights," media outlets nationwide have been saying Catholic |
| leaders are sanctioning voting for candidates that back abortion. |
| However, Father Frank Pavone, the director of Priests for Life, |
| says the media is twisting a Cardinal's words and taking a |
| comment out of context. |
| Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who heads the Vatican department |
| charged with encouraging Catholics to follow church teaching, |
| recently wrote a letter to Washington's Cardinal Theodore |
| McCarrick. |
| Ratzinger said Catholics should not vote for candidates |
| "deliberately" because they support abortion. He also said they |
| could vote for pro-abortion candidates if there was a |
| proportionate moral reason for doing so. |
| However, media outlets have stopped there -- not noting that |
| Ratzinger said there is no proportionate reason that can justify |
| voting for a pro-abortion candidate. That upsets Pavone. |
| "Cardinal Ratzinger explicitly states the opposite of what some |
| are saying, namely, that we can elect pro-abortion candidates |
| just because we like their other positions," Father Pavone |
| explained. |
| "Moreover, the Cardinal explicitly declares in the same letter |
| that other issues do not carry the same weight as abortion," |
| Pavone added. |
| Pro-abortion Catholics are also using the statement to justify |
| their beliefs. |
| Father Andrew Greeley, also a New York Daily News columnist, says |
| "Catholics can vote for Kerry" and "it would not be a sin to do |
| so." |
| Pavone accused media outlets and Kerry backers of "a classic |
| abuse of religion" by using a leading Catholic official to |
| justify violence. |
| "There is no act of violence more brutal, or claiming more |
| victims than abortion. It kills 4,000 children daily in the |
| United States alone. Practitioners admit under oath that they |
| dismember and decapitate these babies," Pavone explained. |
| "If people try to equate that with other issues by misquoting a |
| Vatican Cardinal, they are guilty of the most shameless type of |
| abuse of religion," Pavone concluded. |