Liberty Counsel
NEWS RELEASE

Contact: PUBLIC RELATIONS DEPARTMENT - 800-671-1776

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 19, 2006

Washington, D.C. - Today President George W. Bush will make a public statement outlining his position regarding stem cell research and he will specifically address each of the three stem cell research bills pending in the U.S. Senate, including his anticipated veto of one of them. President Bush invited Mathew Staver to attend today's announcement in the East Room of the White House. Staver is the Founder and Chairman of Liberty Counsel and the Interim Dean of Liberty University School of Law.

The President strongly supports passage of S. 2754, known as the "Alternative Pluripotent Stem Cell Therapies Enhancement Act," and S. 3504, the "Fetus Farming Prohibition Act of 2006." However, President Bush strongly opposes H.R. 810, Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act, which was passed late yesterday afternoon. He has promised to veto this bill.

S. 2754 is designed to aid research into techniques of deriving Pluripotent stem cells without harming or destroying human embryos. Several techniques are being explored by researchers and significant advances have been made. Should these efforts succeed, it would be possible for scientists to investigate the potential of cells like those derived from embryos without using techniques that raise moral concerns by destroying human embryos.

S. 3504 prohibits the solicitation or acceptance of tissue from human fetuses gestated and aborted solely for research purposes. This bill takes an important step toward establishing the principle that scientific research must always respect the matchless value of every human life. Key moral boundaries must be set now against this and further abuses.

H.R. 810 is a bill that would compel all American taxpayers to pay for research that relies on the intentional destruction of human embryos for the derivation of stem cells, overturning the President's policy that funds research without promoting such ongoing destruction. Yesterday, the Senate passed this bill by a vote of 63-37. The President is committed to vetoing this bill. This bill will become the first veto during the President's tenure thus far.

Staver commented: "President Bush has taken a principled stand that promotes science while respecting the sanctity of human life. Science and morality are not enemies. While we must find ways to cure disease and save lives, we must never devalue human life in the process. Our first commitment must be to life, because without the right to life, all other rights are illusory. Some people who support embryonic stem cell research are well-meaning and we must be sympathetic to their emotional pleas, but the fact is we do not have to sacrifice moral principles to advance stem cell research. There is far more promise in adult stem cell research than in embryonic stem cell research. The former does not destroy life while the latter does."

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