By Scott Tibbs, March 11, 2009
President Barack Obama reversed President Bush's ban on using federal tax dollars for embryonic stem cell research. As expected, abortion opponents criticized the ruling, because embryonic stem cells cannot be "harvested" unless a human embryo - a human being in the very first stages of life - is killed. This move has been expected for a while now, and I am somewhat surprised that Obama waited to issue this executive order until nearly seven weeks after he took the oath of office.
As Indiana Right to Life pointed out in a press release, "great progress is being made in treating over 70 diseases and conditions" brought about by non-controversial, ethical research on adult stem cells. Research on adult stem cells has demonstrated real results without the moral and ethical ramifications of destroying human embryos. Why, then, has President Obama decided there is such a need to do "research" on embryonic stem cells? Why not bypass the ethical concerns and funnel federal research monies into research on adult stem cells?
The answer is simple: pro-abortion politics. Abortion rights advocates cannot abide that federal law protects life before birth, especially at such an early stage. Abortion rights advocates know that setting a precedent that human life can be protected at such an early stage raises moral questions that threatens the "right" to kill an unborn baby. This shouldn't be a surprise coming from Barack Obama, a man who is so radically pro-abortion that he even voted against legislation to make it illegal to kill a baby that survives an abortion and is born.
President Obama, with the stroke of a pen, is leading this nation down a dangerous path. Obama has shifted U.S. policy that some human lives can be sacrificed - that some human beings can be killed - for the "benefit" of everyone else. Some Christians argued that Obama would actually be good for the unborn because he supports social programs that allegedly reduce the "need" for abortions. What will it take for those people to wake up? Or were they never really pro-life at all?
