News Release: Embryonic Stem Cell Research Executive Order Places Politics Ahead of Science, Says Michigan Catholic Conference

(LANSING)—Michigan Catholic Conference Vice President for Public Policy Paul A. Long today released the following statement regarding an executive order to be issued by President Obama that permits federal tax-payer funding of embryonic stem cell research:

“President Obama’s executive order regrettably places ideology and political posturing ahead of proven scientific therapeutic advancements. There are endless studies and stories of patients who have been treated, even cured of their debilitating condition following stem cell therapies that do not necessitate the destruction of human embryos, yet the president today will sign an executive order that makes every tax-paying American citizen unwittingly complicit in the destruction of human embryos for experimental research.

“In his remarks at the National Prayer Breakfast on February 5, President Obama stated ‘There is no God who condones taking the life of an innocent human being. This much we know.’ Unfortunately, there is no consistency between this profound statement and today’s executive order—as destroying human embryos is, in fact, taking the life of an innocent human being.”

Michigan Catholic Conference is the official public policy voice of the Catholic Church in this state.

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