THINKING CLEARLY ABOUT STEM CELL RESEARCH.

On August 9, 2001, President George W. Bush nullified the Clinton administration's guidelines that would have provided federal funds for stem cell research involving the continual destruction of human embryos. President Bush allowed funding only for research on existing stem cell lines because "the life-and-death decision has already been made" in these cases. The embryos from which these cell lines have been derived cannot be brought back to life. Like the millions of aborted children they are victims of the culture of death. We mourn their deaths as we mourn the deaths from abortion, euthanasia and infanticide.

In the speech announcing his decision, President Bush stated "I also believe human life is a sacred gift from our creator. I worry about a culture that devalues life, and believe as your president I have an important obligation to foster and encourage respect for life in America and throughout the world." Did we ever hear such words from President Clinton? And didn't the actions of the Clinton administration for eight long years reflect attitudes totally opposed to the right-to-life cause?

Given all that, you would think that President Bush would receive applause from all pro-lifers for overturning yet another anti-life policy from the deadly Clinton years. Moreover, the new policy puts President Bush in strong opposition to the vocal and sizable segment in the Congress that favors not only unrestricted stem cell research but also cloning to produce large numbers of embryos as raw material for the research laboratories. Yet President Bush's courageous and difficult decision has been met with opposition from some pro-lifers.

For the most part, these critics worry about whether the president's decision was morally defensible and whether an important "dam" has been breached. Let's consider these questions.

In a recent issue of the National Catholic Register (9/2-8/2001), Franciscan Brother and Physician Daniel P. Sulmasy addresses the first question. Dr. Sulmasy, who is the director of the Bioethics Institute at New York Medical College, writes "First, research on embryonic stem-cell lines is not in itself evil. An embryonic stem-cell line created through the destruction of human embryos is not a human person. Second, the president's decision to prohibit further funding for the destruction of human embryos, along with his explicit condemnation of such destruction, is evidence that there is no formal cooperation or sharing in the evil intentE. Third, [it cannot be said] that the embryos would not have been destroyed but for the president's action. [They already had been destroyed.] Fourth, E the president's decision does not involve him or any scientist using these cell lines (except those who created them in the first place) in any physical way in the act of destroying human embryosE.

"This decision itself violates no pro-life principles. But it does mean that we must be especially vigilant to hold the ...