USCCB Fact Sheet on Stem Cell Decision by President Bush

Description

The Catholic bishops of the United States have strongly opposed the National Institutes of Health guidelines for embryonic stem cell research issued on August 25, 2000. The guidelines provided no federal funds for the act of destroying human embryos, or for research using embryos specially created for research; federal funds could support research on stem cells obtained by the privately funded destruction of “excess” embryos from fertility clinics. On August 9, 2001, after suspending the guidelines for several months’ review, President Bush announced that he will implement them, with one change: funding will extend only to cell lines already in existence as of August 9, in an effort to prevent such funding from encouraging the destruction of human embryos in the future.