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By Kent Larsen
Hatch Favors Stem Cell Funding, Draws Pro-Life Ire
WASHINGTON, DC -- In a move that surprised many and shocked Pro-life
advocates, Utah Senator Orrin Hatch sent a memo to President George
W. Bush outlining his support for stem cell research. Although many
in the pro-life movement have fought research using the cells, which
are obtained from embryos, Hatch (R-UT) is part of a group of at
least 5 other Republican Senators, including fellow LDS Church member
Gordon Smith (R-OR), and 30 House Republicans who favor the research.
Hatch's 12-page memo was released to the media Monday, causing a
storm of protest from some anti-abortion forces, who fear that
research on the cells, harvested from fertilized embryos abandoned
following in-vitro fertilization procedures, will lead to increased
abortions. The Christian Coalition immediately sent an e-mail alert
to supporters nationwide criticizing Hatch, who has been an ardent
abortion foe, and urging them to call the White House and their
legislators on the issue. Hatch also drew fire, predictably, from
Gayle Ruzicka, head of the very conservative Utah Eagle Forum and
also an LDS Church member. "I'm astounded, absolutely astounded,"
Ruzicka told the Deseret News. "I have always been defender of Orrin
Hatch on the life issue. And now he has betrayed us all."
The memo outlined Hatch's anti-abortion credentials, and then went on
to outline his logic for supporting stem cell research. Hatch draws a
distinction between an egg fertilized in the womb, where it is
presumably viable, and an egg fertilized in a lab, "To me a frozen
embryo is more akin to a frozen unfertilized egg or frozen sperm than
to a fetus naturally developing in the body of a mother," Hatch wrote
in the memo. "In the case of in vitro fertilization, extraordinary
human action is required to initiate a successful pregnancy while in
the case of an elective abortion an intentional human act is required
to terminate pregnancy. These are polar opposites." He added that he
cannot "imagine Congress or the courts somehow attempting to order
every spare' embryo (from fertility labs) through a full-term
pregnancy," saying that instead of being discarded, these embryos
should be used to further life.
It is also clear from Hatch's comments on the issue that the
potential value of stem cells, which might provide treatments for
such diverse conditions as diabetes, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's
disease, weighed heavily in his decision, "Stem cell research
facilitates life. Abortion destroys life; this is about saving
lives." In interviews last week, Hatch argued strongly for allowing
the research, "The most pro-life position would be to help people who
suffer from these maladies," Hatch was quoted as saying in the
Washington Post, "That is far more ethical than just abandoning or
discarding these embryonic stem cells."
In comments printed in the New York Times, Hatch said he came to his
decision through careful study and prayer, "I have searched my
conscience. I just cannot equate a child living in the womb, with
moving toes and fingers and a beating heart, with an embryo in a
freezer."
But the position has been roundly attacked by some pro-life forces.
Ruzicka told the Deseret News, "When sperm and an egg meet, you have
life. When you have a beginning of life, whether in a dish and they
freeze it, or in the uterus, it's still life. . . . Experimenting on
human beings is wrong." Ruzicka said that pro-life leaders from
around the country have called her to ask why Hatch is taking the
stance. "We're all shocked and extremely upset. . . . No one can take
that stance and consider themselves pro-life," she said. Judie Brown,
president of the American Life League, said, "It is unconscionable
for Sen. Orrin Hatch and other lawmakers who claim to be pro-life to
sanction the direct killing of embryonic persons."
But regardless of the logic Hatch and other conservative lawmakers
use, the implications of their support for stem cell research has
already been important. President Bush was widely expected to kill
plans developed during the Clinton administration to support the
research, but support from Hatch and other conservatives, along with
lobbying from the scientific and medical communities, has led Bush to
look at the issue more carefully. In addition, the high profile that
the stem cell research issue has received made it difficult for Bush
to make a decision quietly and without controversy. Instead, a Bush
strategist told the Washington Post, "We are spending a great deal of
time studying not only the science, but the ethical dimensions of
this."
The issue of stem cell research was academic until just three years
ago, when Dr. James Thomson of the University of Wisconsin showed
that the cells could be isolated. The Clinton administration had
issued a compromise regulation that allowed the research, but only
using cells extracted by others from embryos that were being
discarded. Payment for the cells is prohibited. Bush banned the use
of stem cells in the first few days of his administration, and is now
looking at reversing his position.
Meanwhile, analysts say that the issue is splitting the anti-abortion
foes, and forcing many to reconsider their definition of the
beginning of life. Dr. Thomas Murray, president of the Hastings
Center, a bioethics institute, told the New York Times, "What we are
finding is that it is not such a clear and bright line, even within
the pro-life camp, because so many people are in that muddled middle,
with complex views about what is the moral status of an embryo. The
prospect of embryonic stem cells eventually leading to important new
therapies is tipping the balance for a lot of people who think that
embryos are not just bits of meaningless tissue."
For Mormons the issue isn't clear either. With Hatch and Senator
Smith favoring stem cell research and Ruzicka opposing it
unconditionally, it is likely that there are many Mormons on both
sides of the issue. LDS Church spokesman Dale Bills told the Deseret
News that the Church was "reviewing the issue" and hasn't yet adopted
a formal position. If the Church takes a position on stem cell
research, many Church members would re-evaluate their positions.
Sources:
Morality and Medicine: Reconsidering Embryo Research
New York Times 1Jul01 T2
By Sheryl Gay Stolberg: The New York Times
Politicians grapple with stem-cell issue
Seattle WA Times (New York Times) 1Jul01 T2
By Sheryl Gay Stolberg: The New York Times
Hatch peeves pro-lifers
Deseret News 2Jul01 T2
By Lee Davidson: Deseret News Washington correspondent
Ruzicka, others flay his support of stem-cell science
Conservative Pressure for Stem Cell Funds Builds
Washington Post pgA01 2Jul01 T2
By Ceci Connolly: Washington Post Staff Writer
Key Antiabortionists Join Push for Embryo Research
Many pro-lifers howling over Hatch's stem-cell stance
Deseret News 3Jul01 T2
By Lee Davidson: Deseret News Washington correspondent
Plea for funding of stem-cell research
Dublin Ireland Irish Times 4Jul01 T2
By Patrick Smyth
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