John Kerry Attacks President Bush on Stem Cell Research in Debate 
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by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
October 1, 2004
Miami, FL (LifeNews.com) — During Thursday night’s presidential debate, John Kerry said he would avoid attacking President Bush’s character when following up a question Bush received from moderator Jim Lehrer.
"I’m not going to talk about a difference of character. I don’t think that’s my job or my business," the Democratic candidate said.
That didn’t stop Kerry from blasting the president on the issue of using human embryos in research.
"He’s not acknowledging the truth of the science of stem-cell research," Kerry said.
Yet, Kerry may want to remain cautious when calling the president’s truthfulness on the controversial issue into question.
In an August interview with the Associated Press, a Kerry campaign staffer misrepresented his position on embryonic stem cell research.
Commenting on a story about a group of scientists who wanted Kerry and President Bush to participate in a town hall forum on the subject of embryonic stem cell research, staffer Sarah Bianchi misstated Kerry’s position.
Bianchi told AP that Kerry is "’absolutely not” suggesting creating embryos for the sole purpose of research."
However, in July, Kerry attached his name to a bill, the Human Cloning Ban and Stem Cell Research Protection Act (S. 303), that specifically allows scientists to create human embryos so their embryonic stem cells can be extracted. The process kills the days-old unborn child.
Douglas Johnson, legislative director of the National Right to Life Committee called Bianchi’s statement "brazen disinformation."
"Kerry one moth ago cosponsored the bill to allow the mass creation of human embryos by cloning, for the sole purpose of using them in research that will kill them," Johnson told LifeNews.com at the time.
