National Right to Life Criticizes Senate Passage of Bill
to Mandate Funding of Embryo-Killing Research
 
The following statement was released by the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC) in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, April 11, at 6:30 PM EST.  For further information, send an e-mail to Legfederal@aol.com or call 202-626-8820.
 
WASHINGTON (April 11, 2007) -- The U.S. Senate today approved legislation (S. 5) that would mandate federal funding of the type of stem cell research that requires the killing of human embryos.
 
President Bush has said that he will veto the legislation.  To view the Statement of Administration Policy on S. 5, click here.
 
Commenting on the Senate's action, Douglas Johnson, legislative director for the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC), said: "The congressional Democratic leadership is again engaged in political demagoguery, making claims for embryonic stem cell research that go far beyond any evidence.  Not a single human patient has yet been helped by stem cells obtained by killing human embryos.  Meanwhile, many thousands of human patients have been helped with other types of stem cells, obtained in non-controversial ways that do not require harming human embryos."
 
The House of Representatives passed very similar legislation (H.R. 3) on January 11 by a vote of 253-174, which was 32 votes short of the two-thirds majority that would be required to override a veto. 
 
The margin by which the Senate passed S. 5 today (63-34) was two votes short of a two-thirds majority.  Three supporters of S. 5 were absent; if all had been present, the tally would have been 66-34 -- one vote short of a two-thirds majority.
 
To read NRLC's April 2 letter to senators in opposition to S. 5, click here.
 
The Senate also passed S. 30 (sponsored by Senators Norm Coleman, R-Mn., and Johnny Isakson, R-Ga.), a bill to encourage research on stem cells obtained in ways that do not require the harming of human embryos.  NRLC had no objection to S. 30.  However, it is unclear whether the House Democratic leadership will allow the House to vote on S. 30.
 
To read a recent essay from National Review Online highlighting examples of widely disseminated misinformation about embryonic stem cell research, click here.
 
For more information on human embryo research, human cloning, human fetus farming, and related issues, see:  http://www.nrlc.org/killing_embryos/index.html and http://www.stemcellresearch.org/

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