The President Stands Up for Life
G. Tracy Mehan, III
With the stroke of his veto pen, President Bush took a stand for the integrity of the human person while providing the American people with a fine lesson in the fundamental truth that science serves humanity, not vice versa.
In a press conference at the White House, and joined by 18 families whose children were originally frozen embryos not used by other couples, the President vetoed legislation that would overturn his previous policy allowing federal funding of research only on human embryonic stem cell lines derived from embryos that had been destroyed prior to the announcement of that policy. At that time, five years ago, the Bush Administration made available over $90 million for research on these lines, the first administration ever to make federal funds available for this purpose.
Recognizing the challenge of promoting science to alleviate human suffering, "without sanctioning the practices that violate the dignity of human life," President Bush insisted that the bill "would support the taking of innocent human life in the hope of finding medical benefits for others."
"It crosses a moral boundary that our decent society needs to respect, so I vetoed it, " said the President.
Read the entire article on the American Spectator website (new window will open).