Catholics across Connecticut to contact State Representatives and Senators
and urge them to oppose legislation on Embryonic Stem Cell Research
HARTFORD,
CONNECTICUT, Tuesday, May 17, 2005: Legislation endorsing and
financing Embryonic Stem Cell Research in Connecticut
will soon be voted on by the State Legislature, and Catholics throughout
the state are urged to contact their legislators in opposition.
This alert coincides
with the news that a majority of Americans, 52 percent, oppose
federal funding of embryonic stem cell research, while just 36 percent
support it, according to a new poll commissioned by the Secretariat for
Pro-Life Activities of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB).
Details of this new poll are listed below.
In
all Catholic parishes in the four Dioceses (Archdiocese of Hartford,
Diocese of Norwich, Diocese of Bridgeport, and the Ukrainian
Diocese of Stamford) across Connecticut last weekend, an alert was
issued containing the following information:
"An Act
Permitting Stem Cell Research and Banning the Cloning of Human Beings" (SB
934) does not fully ban human cloning, because it allows for the
creation and destruction of human embryos up to at least eight weeks of
age through research or “therapeutic” cloning.
Proposed Bill is Unethical and Exploitative
Major Concerns with
SB 934 include:
- It endorses and
funds the unethical practice of embryonic stem cell research.
- The language
concerning how long the embryo can grow before it is destroyed is not
clear, potentially allowing the embryo to grow for many weeks.
- It does not ban
the selling of human eggs for research, which will allow for the
exploitation of poor women. Research cloning and embryonic stem cell
research will require millions of human eggs.
Position of the Catholic Church on Stem-Cell
Research
The Catholic Church
supports the use of "adult" stem cells in medical research
and treatments to find a cure for some of the most devastating illnesses
our society faces. Adult stem cell research holds great promise for
finding cures to some of the worse illnesses in our society.
The Church
strongly opposes the use of "embryonic" stem cells in
scientific research, since it involves the destruction of a human life at
its earliest stage. The creation of life, for the purpose of destroying it
to save another, is a direct attack on the sacred dignity of human life.
The Church holds that embryonic stem cell research is a grave evil.
Please
contact your State Senator and Representative and ask them to oppose SB
934 and Embryonic Stem Cell Research:
For contact
information on a member of the Connecticut State House of
Representatives,
click
here
For
contact information on a member of the Connecticut State Senate,
click
here
To
contact Governor M. Jodi Rell,
click here
For More Information
Questions &
Answers on Stem Cell Research and Human Cloning by the U.S.
Conference of Catholic Bishops (Adobe PDF):
click here.
Connecticut
Catholic Conference: Current news and articles on stem cell research:
click here.
U.S. Conference of
Catholic Bishops' Pro-Life Activities: Cloning/Embryo Research/Stem Cell
Research Updates:
click here.
To learn more
about the issues of concern to Catholics, visit the website of the
Connecticut Catholic Conference:
www.ctcatholic.org.
New Poll: Most Americans Oppose Federal Funding of
Stem Cell Research Using Human Embryos
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
Press Release
WASHINGTON (May 16, 2005) -- A majority of Americans, 52 percent,
oppose federal funding of embryonic stem cell research while just 36
percent support it, according to a new poll commissioned by the
Secretariat for Pro-Life Activities of the U.S. Conference of Catholic
Bishops (USCCB).
Such
funding is being considered by the U.S. House of Representatives, which
may soon vote on a bill (H.R. 810) to fund research requiring human
embryos to be destroyed for their stem cells.
When
respondents were told that scientists disagree on whether embryonic stem
cells, or stem cells from adult tissues and umbilical cord blood, may end
up being most successful in treating diseases, 60% favored funding only
the research avenues that raise no moral problem, while 22% favored
funding all stem cell research including the kind that involves destroying
embryos.
“It is
always wrong for government to promote the destruction of innocent human
life,” said Richard M. Doerflinger, Deputy Director of the USCCB
Secretariat for Pro-Life Activities. “To do so when a clear majority of
the taxpayers themselves reject this approach would be especially
irresponsible.”
The
questions were part of a national survey conducted by International
Communications Research, which polled over one thousand American adults by
telephone May 6-11. A comparison of the results with an identical poll
from last year shows a clear trend against funding stem cell research that
requires destroying early human embryos. In August 2004, Americans opposed
funding the research 47 percent to 43 percent. The follow-up question on
kinds of stem cell research has received a more consistent response, with
the 2004 poll showing a 61% to 23% margin in favor of funding only morally
unproblematic avenues of research.
The new
findings are also consistent with a recent Winston Group poll of
Republicans commissioned by GOP Congressmen supporting H.R. 810. The
Winston poll sponsors have touted a 57- to 40-percent poll result seeming
to favor embryonic stem cell research among Republicans; but that poll
showed just 36 percent of Republicans in favor of expanded federal funding
of embryonic stem cell research, and 58 percent in favor of President
Bush's policy of limited funding or no government funding at all.
“Congress should not be misled on this important issue,” said Doerflinger.
“Most Americans oppose federal funding of research which requires
destroying human embryos.”
The
International Communications Research poll questions and results are as
follows:
Questions asked by International Communications Research, a national
research firm headquartered in Media, Pennsylvania. A weighted sample of
1010 American adults was surveyed by telephone May 6-11, 2005, with a
margin of error of plus or minus 3 percent.
1. Stem cells
are the basic cells from which all of a person's tissues and organs
develop. Congress is considering the question of federal funding for
experiments using stem cells from human embryos. The live embryos would
be destroyed in their first week of development to obtain these cells.
Do you support or oppose using your federal tax dollars for such
experiments?
Support: 36.0%
Oppose: 51.6%
Don’t know: 10.5%
Refused: 1.9%
2. Stem cells
for research can be obtained by destroying human embryos. They can also
be obtained from adults, from placentas left over from live births, and
in other ways that do no harm to the donor. Scientists disagree on which
source may end up being most successful in treating diseases. How would
you prefer your tax dollars to be used this year for stem cell research?
(Options
rotated)
Supporting all
methods, including those that require destroying human embryos, to see
which will be most successful: 22.4%
or
Supporting
research using adult stem cells and other alternatives, to see if
there is no need to destroy human embryos for research: 60.2%
Neither
(volunteered): 7.8%
Don’t know: 8.0%
Refused: 1.6%
