Thanks to a post on Reason Magazine's blog yesterday, I was pointed to an editorial in the Washington Post calling Congressman Tom DeLay on his extreme histronics in describing embryonic stem-cell research as "the dismemberment of living, distinct human beings for the purposes of medical experimentation". It goes on to call on DeLay to take a position I've advocated for a while now: if he and other Congressional Republicans believe that embryonic stem-cell research is murder, then they should outlaw in-vitro fertilization, too. From the editorial:
If Mr. DeLay really believes this, in vitro fertilization as practiced is legalized torture and murder on a mass scale. If a 5-day-old embryo is "a person," then putting it in a freezer -- let alone allowing it to expire in a petri dish or throwing it out -- should be no more acceptable for the goal of producing babies for the infertile than it is for discovering therapies that could help dying people.
As one with a family member who may potentially see great benefits from stem-cell research, I don't want either procedure to be outlawed or onerously restricted -- but I almost hope that Republican Congressional leadership will walk out onto this plank a little further, and slice off another chunk of their support in the process. Let's not be hypocritical here, guys ...
(Rank-and-file representatives have already shown incredible chutzpah in passing a bill to peel back restrictions on stem-cell research; how long until their leadership turns down the thumbscrews to keep them in line? Will President Bush use his first-ever Presidential veto to keep this bill from becoming law?)
Posted by Kevin at May 27, 2005 12:28 PMDamn straight! Mr. DeLay is being ridiculous. Again. And I consider myself a conservative.
No wait, that's way too oxymoronic. Because these days it's all black and white. If you're a conservative (which still doesn't necessarily mean that you're a Republican), you have to be anti-stem cell research and pro-life. There's absolutely no way one can differ from the official partyline (as Jon Stewart so eloquently points out in his book).
I hate that our government treats us like children -- I can still make up my own mind. And I certainly don't need someone like Congressman DeLay to tell me what I am supposed to think.
*stepping off my soapbox now*