On Senator Frist

I was very disappointed with Senator Frist's support of embryonis stem cell research because it kills a baby in order to do its research, of which nothing promising has come. Even if it did, to kill a child or any human being in order to 'do good' or 'not waste' them is ethically and morally bankrupt.

CWN also has comments from readers at the end of this article on its website. Good points made by many... Senator Frist will not have my vote if he runs for President.

Frist support for embryo research called "betrayal"
Washington, DC, Aug. 01 (LifesiteNews.com/CWN)

Washington, DC, Aug. 01 (LifesiteNews.com/CWN) - Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist has broken with President George W. Bush by giving his support to a bill that proposes to expand federal funding for embryonic stem cell research. The bill, strongly opposed by conservative lawmakers, pro-life family groups, and the White House, is sponsored by pro-abortion Pennsylvania Republican Sen. Arlen Specter.

Michael Munger, an expert in congressional-presidential relations, said: "The Bush administration will consider this a betrayal."

The Tennessee Senator justified his change of position by saying on the floor of the Senate, "It's not just a matter of faith, it's a matter of science."

Sen. Frist did not address the fact that thus far the hope of embryo research producing any cures whatever is daily growing more remote as ethical adult and umbilical cord blood stem cell research continues to far outstrip it in actual results.

The senator, a heart-lung transplant surgeon, said as recently as a month ago that he did not support public funding of embryo research "at this juncture." He announced his turn-around in a lengthy Senate speech saying, "We should expand federal funding and the accompanying (National Institutes of Health) oversight and current guidelines governing stem-cell research, carefully and thoughtfully staying within ethical bounds."

In 2001, the Bush administration limited public funding for embryo research to those stem cell lines already created from embryos. Since that funding restriction, the biotechnology lobby has been putting immense pressure on the government to reverse its policy. Frist now supports the killing of embryos "leftover" from fertility treatments to harvest their stem cells.

The proposed bill has passed the House and now stands a better chance in the Senate after Frist's endorsement. White House spokesman Scott McClellan reiterated the president's stand against further funding for embryo research after Frist made his speech.

The turn-around is surprising to pro-life observers, since Frist, as recently as last October, slammed Democratic vice-presidential candidate Sen. John Edwards for his support of embryo research. Frist said in October 2004, in an apparent reference to the fact that even stem cell researchers have admitted that embryo research is failing to offer progress on finding cures, "It is cruel to people who have disabilities and chronic diseases, and, on top of that, it's dishonest."

"Stem cell research is promising," Frist said then. "The president vigorously promotes adult and embryonic stem cell research, but he does it with an ethical and moral framework."

Pro-life groups were quick to respond. "Sen. Frist cannot have it both ways. He cannot be pro-life and pro-embryonic stem cell funding. Nor can he turn around and expect widespread endorsement from the pro-life community if he should decide to run" for president, said the Rev. Patrick Mahoney, director of the Christian Defense Coalition.

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