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Stem cells
Awaiting a vote, Catholics urged to take action
Joe Kohn of The Michigan Catholic
Published November 16, 2007
Detroit — The Church and its allies have had their say regarding stem cells before the Michigan House Judiciary Committee. But it may not be too late for citizens to continue making their voices heard on whether to legalize the trafficking and killing of human embryos — which is what House Bill 4616 would do.
Michigan residents can visit the Michigan Catholic Conference's Web site, www.micatholicconference.org, for information on how to contact their representatives. The MCC is governed by the state's bishops and acts as the Church's public policy voice in the state.
As of Tuesday, the House committee had not scheduled a vote on the bill. If it passes the committee, it will be put before the entire Michigan House of Representatives for a vote. If it passes votes in the House and the state Senate, it likely will be signed into law.
Catholic leaders have urged lawmakers in the state to support funding for adult stem-cell research, but to reject funding for embryonic stem-cell research.
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The Science of Stem Cells: Finding Cures and Protecting Life
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Michigan diocesan bishops, as teachers of the faith, have launched an unprecedented education program to teach the Catholic faithful about the relationship between stem-cell research and the Catholic teaching on human life. | Embryonic stem-cell research has proven ineffective over the past couple decades, and requires the destruction of human embryos. Simply put, it's the destruction of living human beings for the sake of medical research — and that research has yielded nothing in terms of cures or treatments.
"There are more reasonable and less controversial ways to solve the state's economic woes than by cloning and killing human embryos for unproven and unnecessary research," said Paul Long, the MCC's vice president of public policy in a statement accompanying its Nov. 7 appearance before the House Judiciary Committee.
"If this legislation were to pass," he added, "the state would be opening the door to human cloning and turning its back on a 30-year policy of protecting the human embryo from destruction."
The practice of embryonic stem-cell research is in conflict with Church teachings, which hold that it's not morally correct for a person to end one life in hopes to improve or save another.
At the same time the Church is urging citizens and lawmakers to deter embryonic stem- cell research, it is supporting the much more effective practice of adult stem-cell research.
Research that uses adult stem-cells does not result in the death of human beings, and has lead to about 70 medical treatments and cures to various conditions, including Parkinson's Disease and certain forms of cancer.
In October, the MCC launched a campaign to teach Catholics about the different forms of stem-cell research.
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