A U.S. court of appeals panel has said the U.S. government can use federal funding for embryonic stem cell research. The decision reverses a judge’s injunction last year, but does not end the original legal challenge.
For background, read Judge Stops Obama Funding of Embryo Destruction
UPDATE 7/28/11: Fight to protect unborn to march forward despite recent ruling favoring Obama embryo destruction
UPDATE 6/6/11: RINO IL Sen. Kirk to "lock in" Obama embryo destruction
UPDATE 3/20/12: Obama Administration OKs Aborted Baby Brain Experiments
-- From "Appeals court lifts ban on human stem cell funding" by Del Quentin Wilber, Washington Post 4/29/11
In a 2 to 1 decision, a panel of judges for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit lifted a preliminary injunction that had blocked such funding, sending the case back to a trial judge.
The appellate court decision centered on a 1996 law, called the Dickey-Wicker Amendment, that prohibits federal funding for “research in which a human embryo or embryos are destroyed, discarded, or knowingly subjected to risk or injury or death greater than that allowed for research on fetuses in utero.”
The issue of federal financing of stem cell research is a contentious one — pitting scientists who say that stem cells will lead to medical advances against opponents who say it is immoral to destroy human embryos to obtain stem cells.
On Friday, Obama administration officials hailed the decision.
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From "Stem cell research: Court gives Obama a victory, but policy still on trial" By Warren Richey, Staff writer, Christian Science Monitor 4/29/11
At issue before the appeals court was whether US District Judge Royce Lamberth was correct in August when he ordered the government to stop funding embryonic stem cell research projects. His ruling had been stayed pending appeal, allowing research projects to continue.
Each administration dating to President Clinton has grappled with the ethical, legal, and public policy challenges of human embryonic stem cell research, as has Congress.
There are no legal restrictions banning the destruction of embryos in privately-funded stem cell research. But researchers complain that there are few sources of private funding.
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From "Court lifts injunction on embryonic stem cell research funding" posted at CNA/EWTN News 4/30/11
The majority opinion . . . noted that Congress has re-enacted the 1996 [Dickey-Wicker] law year after year with the knowledge that the government has been funding embryonic stem cell research since 2001. They said this was evidence that Congress considers such funding permissible, the Associated Press reports.
[The lone dissenting] Judge Henderson thought that the lawsuit was likely to succeed. She argued her colleagues performed “linguistic jujitsu” by turning a straightforward case into a complicated 21-page ruling “that would make Rube Goldberg tip his hat.”
Two doctors who conduct research in adult stem cells [where no human life is destroyed], James Sherley of the Boston Biomedical Research Institute and Theresa Deisher of AVM Biotechnology, had challenged the legality of the funding. They also argued that the administration’s rules will result in increased competition for limited federal funding and will injure their ability to compete successfully for research money from the National Institutes of Health.
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
Also read Stem Cell Science Advances Without Embryos and see the list of related previous articles at the bottom of this posting.
