Stem Cell Debate Under Way in Nation's Capital

July 17, 2006 — -- The political power of the stem cell issue, said supporters, comes from personal connections.

Given the long list of diseases and conditions that scientists say embryonic stem cell research might help cure -- Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, juvenile diabetes, cancer, heart disease, spinal cord injuries -- supporters said nearly every American has a friend or relative who might benefit from the science.

On the other hand, critics point out, every person was once an embryo.

So, it's not surprising that as the Senate stem cell debate got under way Monday, it quickly took a personal -- and at times, emotional -- turn.

Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), who supports embryonic stem cell research, spoke on the floor about his battle with Hodgkin's disease. Recalling President Nixon's 1970 declaration of a war on cancer, he said, "without unduly dwelling on my own situation with Hodgkin's -- a year of chemotherapy -- I think had the research been fulfilled, I would have been spared that malady."

Similarly, Specter said, there are hundreds of thousands of people who have died or been incapacitated by diseases "which could be cured with stem cell research."

Another supporter, Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), spoke about his nephew Kelly, who became a quadriplegic after an accident on an aircraft carrier while serving in the Navy. "Kelly's hope has been that sometime, scientists will find a way to mend his spinal cord so that he can walk again," he said. "He's been following very closely the whole issue of embryonic stem cell research."

Earlier in the day, critics of expanded federal funding for such research offered personal testimonials of their own.

At a press conference with Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.), parents of "snowflake babies" -- children adopted as embryos from fertility clinics -- sobbed as they talked about the prospect of such embryos being used for medical research.

"I do pray for a cure for paralysis," said Steve Johnson, a paraplegic whose daughter Zara was a snowflake baby. "But not if that comes at the destruction of an embryo. ...Would I kill my daughter so I could walk again?"

Critics also argued that adult and cord blood stem cells offered more hope for victims of disease than embryonic stem cells. "I'm a two-time cancer survivor," said Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.). "I desire the treatments that can come out of stem cell research. ... [But] every disease, save ALS, has an adult stem cell or cord blood stem cell cure that's already been proven in humans."

Under an agreement worked out by its leadership, the Senate is actually considering three separate stem cell bills, all of which will need 60 votes to pass, and none of which can be amended.

Two are relatively uncontroversial: One would outlaw "fetal farming," or growing fetuses to harvest their tissue or organs; the other would promote research into adult, or nonembryonic, stem cells.

The bill generating all the debate -- and splitting the Republican Party -- would allow federal funding for research on stem cells taken from embryos discarded by fertility clinics. It would essentially override a 2001 decision by President Bush that limited funding for such research to a relatively small number of pre-existing embryonic stem cell lines -- lines that critics say have proved of little use to scientists because of their age and contamination.

"Science has progressed over the last five years," said Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.), who supports the bill, at the opening of the debate. "Fewer than the anticipated number of cell lines have proved suitable for research, and I feel that the limit on cell lines available for federally funded research is too restrictive."

The measure passed the House last year, and both sides say it appears to have the votes to clear the Senate as well, setting up a direct confrontation with the White House. The Senate is scheduled to vote on all three bills Tuesday.

Bush has vowed to veto the embryonic stem cell reasearch bill -- a threat recently reiterated by the president's top political strategist, Karl Rove. There do not appear to be enough votes in the House to override a veto, though the Senate could get close. A veto could come as early as Wednesday.

The issue pits Frist in a rare clash with the president. Frist, a heart surgeon, broke with Bush to endorse the House-passed bill last year, and had been under growing pressure to schedule a vote in the Senate ever since.

And it has sharply divided the Republican Party: GOP icons, such as former first lady Nancy Reagan, have lobbied in favor of the bill, and some anti-abortion members -- such as Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah -- favor it as well.

But many religious conservatives oppose it: Advocacy groups lining up against the measure include the Family Research Council, Concerned Women for America, as well as the Southern Baptist Convention and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

A Bush veto would please much of the GOP's conservative base, many of whom believe it is immoral to destroy any embryo for research. But with polls showing that more than two-thirds of the public supports such research, a veto could also create political problems for moderate Republican candidates, or those running in close races.