Politics Becomes Personal With Stem Cell Research

Politics Becomes Personal With Stem Cell Research

A Copley News Service article printed in the San Diego Union Tribune’s on-line site SignOnSanDiego analyzes how the feelings of many politicians about stem cell research have changed as they or people close to them became afflicted with diseases which could potentially be cured with stem cells.

The House voted in May to lift some of the restrictions currently imposed on federal funding for stem cells, but the Senate has not yet taken up the vote. (See Blog “Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act of 2005 Update” on October 15.) President Bush has said he will veto the bill. According to the article, “Observers count more than 50 senators who would support the bill and that situation would present Bush with a political dilemma: using the first veto of his presidency on an issue that has strong congressional and public support. But Senate backing isn't yet strong enough to override a veto; that takes 67 votes.”

The article describes the changes of feelings about stem cell research by Representative Jo Ann Emerson of Missouri, who was adamantly opposed to embryonic stem cell research until a friend had a child with muscular dystrophy and her husband and mother-in-law both died, her husband from cancer and her mother-in-law with dementia. Other Republicans, many of them pro-life, who support embryonic stem cell research include Senator Arlen Specter, Senator Bill Frist, and Rep. Joe Barton.

The article also quoted a Pew Research Center survey which showed American support for embryonic stem research increasing from 43% in 2003 to 56% in 2004.

It is not surprising to find that people’s experiences change their opinions, or cause them to struggle with beliefs previously held on an abstract level, and this is one of the reasons that I think the debate on stem cells needs to be held at a level of calm rhetoric and high respect.