JOHN McCAIN, BASEBALL, AND STEM CELL RESEARCH
Do you like the stem cell policies of President George Bush? If so, you will love John McCain, who is more of the same, only worse.
A McCain Presidency would attack stem cell research three ways.
- He has promised to sign a bill to put stem cell scientists in jail;
- He approves of a law to redefine human life as legally beginning at the blastocyst stage, potentially criminalizing embryonic stem cell research;
- He has pledged to appoint even more ultra-conservative judges to the Supreme Court, effectively stacking it.
But you heard that the Senator from
Bear in mind, however, that Castle/Degette is not a strong bill. It was written as cautiously and conservatively as possible, so that even the most anti-research President might be able to sign it. There is no reference to advanced stem cell research like SCNT (Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer), and no funding. Its improvement? Mr. Bush's policy allowed federal funding only for those embryonic stem cell lines in existence before
So a McCain Presidency would allow one mildly positive bill to go forward. That's it: his total contribution to stem cell research.
How he would oppose the research is far more significant.
Look at three commitments the Senator has made, all utterly damaging to research.
STRIKE ONE: Like President Bush, and Senator Sam Brownback (R-KS), Senator McCain is in favor of jailing stem cell scientists if they participate in advanced stem cell research, Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer (SCNT), sometimes called therapeutic cloning. As you know, SCNT involves a skin cell and an emptied egg like a woman loses every month; it involves no sperm, no implantation in the womb, no womb—and no child at all—except perhaps a person being healed of an incurable disease. However, John McCain has pledged to prohibit SCNT, the first ban on medical research in American history, which Mr. Bush tried (and failed) to do in all his years in office. The law to ban the research is the Cloning Prohibition Act, offered by Brownback.
The Brownback Cloning Prohibition Act sees no difference between cloning a baby (useless, dangerous, and deserving of criminalization ) and copying cells with SCNT, which positive process is supported by essentially the entire medical, research, and patient advocate community.
The Act would put scientists in jail for ten years, and/or fine them a minimum of one million dollars. It would threaten the same penalties for doctors, parents, or patients themselves; anyone who tried to use SCNT.
Could Senator McCain support such a cruelly unfair law? Listen to his own words, in an interview with conservative National Review editor Ramesh Ponnoru.
(interviewer Ponnoru) "On the question of stem cells. I believe the last time around you voted for federal funding for using the embryos at I.V.F. clinics. Have you reconsidered that? Is that still your view?
Sen. McCain: Yeah. It's still my view. I've watched many close friends suffer from many of these debilitating diseases. I'm for all kinds of stem-cell research. But I would hope that we can make scientific progress so that this wouldn't be that much of an issue any more but I support federal funding for it and I understand that I have a difference of opinion with some of my friends in the pro-life community.
Ponnuru: All kinds of stem-cell research? What about stem-cell research that involves human cloning?
Sen. McCain: I'm obviously against any human cloning. Obviously.
Ponnuru: Would you be willing to ban it?
Sen. McCain: Sure.
Ponnuru: So you'd support something like the Brownback bill? (The Human Cloning Prohibition Act of 2007, see below)
Sen. McCain: Yes. I think I'm a co-sponsor."
--National Review,
STRIKE TWO: Senator McCain supports a bill which would redefine human life as legally beginning at the blastocyst stage: granting "personhood" status to the microscopic joining of sperm and egg.
According to his spokesperson (and numerous sources including Paul Krugman of the New York Times)**, McCain would sign the
Remember that discarded blastocysts are currently the only source of embryonic stem cells. If a blastocyst (the microscopic joining of sperm and egg) has legal standing in a court of law, this could criminalize the entire field of embryonic stem cell research. The In Vitro Fertility (IVF) process, mixing sperm and eggs in a Petri dish, generally ends up with 15-20 blastocysts, most of which are too weak to survive. These will be thrown away, donated to another couple (who generally prefer to make their own), frozen forever—or donated to research as a source of hope for cure.
Could this use of discarded blastocysts, turning medical trash into treasure, be allowed, if the bill John McCain approved should become law?
Look at the official text:
"BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF
Section 1. "…the guarantee of due process of law under the
"Section 2. The legislature finds that the life of a human being begins when the ovum is fertilized by male sperm…"
From the instant of fertilization, a blastocyst (often shed unnoticed by married women in their natural cycles) is entitled to "due process of law".
Mr. McCain claims to support embryonic stem cell research—but he approves of legislation which could make that research illegal?
STRIKE THREE: Senator McCain has pledged to support "strict constructionist" (ultra-conservative
And who would advise him on his Supreme Court appointments? None other than that most anti-stem cell Senator of all, Sam Brownback***
Folks, in baseball terms, if John McCain was at bat, the count would be one ball, and three strikes.
In the twisted logic of those who oppose stem cell research, that is probably a home run.
But for me, he's out.
*Human Cloning Prohibition Act of 2007 (Introduced in Senate)
S 1036 IS
110th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 1036
To amend the Public Health Service Act to prohibit human cloning.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
March 29, 2007
Mr. BROWNBACK (for himself, Ms. LANDRIEU, Mr. ALLARD, Mr. BUNNING, Mr. BURR, Mr. CHAMBLISS, Mr. COBURN, Mr. CORKER, Mr. CORNYN, Mr. CRAPO, Mr. DEMINT, Mrs. DOLE, Mr. DOMENICI, Mr. ENSIGN, Mr. ENZI, Mr. GRAHAM, Mr. GRASSLEY, Mr. HAGEL, Mr. INHOFE, Mr. KYL, Mr. LOTT, Mr. MCCAIN, Mr. MARTINEZ, Mr. SESSIONS, Mr. THOMAS, Mr. THUNE, Mr. VITTER, and Mr. VOINOVICH) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions
A BILL
To amend the Public Health Service Act to prohibit human cloning.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the `Human Cloning Prohibition Act of 2007'.
SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON HUMAN CLONING.
Part H of title IV of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 289 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following:
`SEC. 498D. PROHIBITION ON HUMAN CLONING.
`(a) Definitions- In this section:
`(1) HUMAN CLONING- The term `human cloning' means human asexual reproduction, accomplished by introducing nuclear material from one or more human somatic cells into a fertilized or unfertilized oocyte whose nuclear material has been removed or inactivated so as to produce a living organism (at any stage of development) that is genetically virtually identical to an existing or previously existing human organism.
`(2) ASEXUAL REPRODUCTION- The term `asexual reproduction' means reproduction not initiated by the union of oocyte and sperm.
`(3) SOMATIC CELL- The term `somatic cell' means a diploid cell (having a complete set of chromosomes) obtained or derived from a living or deceased human body at any stage of development.
`(b) Prohibition- It shall be unlawful for any person or entity, public or private, in or affecting interstate commerce, knowingly--
`(1) to perform or attempt to perform human cloning;
`(2) to participate in an attempt to perform human cloning; or
`(3) to ship or receive for any purpose an embryo produced by human cloning or any product derived from such embryo.
`(c) Importation- It shall be unlawful for any person or entity, public or private, knowingly to import for any purpose an embryo produced by human cloning.
`(d) Penalties-
`(1) CRIMINAL PENALTY- Any person or entity that violates this section shall be fined or imprisoned for not more than 10 years, or both.
`(2) CIVIL PENALTY- Any person or entity that violates any provision of this section shall be subject to, in the case of a violation that involves the derivation of a pecuniary gain, a civil penalty of not less than $1,000,000 and not more than an amount equal to the amount of the gross gain multiplied by 2, if that amount is greater than $1,000,000…"
**
| 529M0546 | |
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF
Section 1. The Legislature accepts and concurs with the conclusion of the South Dakota Task Force to Study Abortion… that life begins at the time of conception…
***"McCain Is Not a Moderate", by Paul Krugman, the New York Times
"Most notably, Mr. McCain's spokesperson says that he would have signed South Dakota's extremist new anti-abortion law.
The spokesperson went on to say that the senator would have taken "the appropriate steps under state law" to ensure that cases of rape and incest were excluded. But that attempt at qualification makes no sense: the South Dakota law** has produced national shockwaves precisely because it prohibits abortions even for victims of rape or incest.
The bottom line is that Mr. McCain isn't a moderate; he's a man of the hard right. How far right? A statistical analysis of Mr. McCain's recent voting record, available at www.voteview.
****"On the issue of appointments to the Supreme Court, McCain mentioned that Sam Brownback (emphasis added) would play an advisory role in helping decide who he should nominate for the Supreme Court. As models of who he would select, John McCain pointed to Justices Samuel Alito and Antonin Scalia." –Catholic News Agency,
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