Stem Cell Research

From Pete Ashdown Campaign Collaboration Wiki

Federal restrictions on stem-cell research are only pressuring other countries to pick up the slack. Recent breakthroughs in biotech have increasingly been sourcing from overseas instead of stateside. Furthermore, scientific talent that used to flock to America is looking elsewhere for more fertile ground.

The ethical questions about fertilized eggs and when life begins will never be agreed upon by all. I believe the potential human is not the same as a human and a six-day-old blastocyst is "potential".

Potential medical benefits from stem-cell research are too great for our government to politicize this issue further. Continuing restrictions on research will only serve to empower other nations to pass us by.

Indeed, it could be argued that such moral values, which are not universal to American culture, should not be legislated, in the spirit of the First Amendment.