President Bush: Embryo Adoption Not Embryonic Stem Cell Research 
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by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
May 31, 2005
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — In a Tuesday morning press conference with reporters, President Bush reiterated his position in favor of embryo adoption instead of the kind of stem cell research that destroys human embryos.
"There’s an alternative to the destruction of life," the president said, mentioning the White House ceremony he held last week "with little babies that had been born as a result of the embryos that had been frozen."
Bush said that the issue surrounding embryonic stem cell research "is really one of federal funding."
"And that is whether or not we use taxpayers’ money to destroy life in order to hopefully find a cure for terrible disease. And I have made my position very clear on that issue — and that is I don’t believe we should," the president explained.
President Bush told reporters he understood the concerns of patients who are seeking cures and treatments for various diseases.
"I understand the folks that are deeply concerned for their — a child who might have juvenile diabetes," Bush cited as an example.
"And my message to them is, is that there is research going on and hopefully we’ll find the cure," the president said. "But at the same time, it’s important in the society to balance ethics and science."
President Bush explained his decision to allow federal funding for embryonic stem cell lines already in place prior to his administration.
"Now, I made a decision a while ago that said there had been some existing stem cells and, therefore, it was okay to use federal funds on those because the life decision had already been made," Bush said.
"But from that point going forward, I felt it was best to stand on principle — and that is taxpayers’ money … for the use of experimentation that would destroy life … violates a principle of mine," Bush added.
He said Americans should know that over 600 experiments had been conducted on those stem cell lines and researchers say 3,000 more can be done.
Last week, the House approved two bills dealing with the topic of stem cell research.
One would use taxpayer funds to pay for embryonic stem cell research and President Bush has indicated he will veto that measure. While the Senate is expected to pass the legislation may have the votes to override a veto, the House is nowhere close to coming up with the 290 votes necessary to override.
The other bill promotes research using adult stem cells and it passed with only one vote against it in the House.
