[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 7 (Friday, January 12, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E106-E107]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               STEM CELL RESEARCH ENHANCEMENT ACT OF 2007

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                               speech of

                         HON. JAMES L. OBERSTAR

                              of minnesota

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, January 11, 2007

  Mr. OBERSTAR. Mr. Speaker, the issue of embryonic stem cell research 
places humanity on the frontier of medical science and at the outer 
edge of moral theology.
  On the side of science there is much hope, even expectation that 
extraordinarily effective therapies will be developed to treat--and 
possibly cure--a wide range of maladies such as diabetes, Parkinson's, 
spinal cord injury and a host of others. Progress has been achieved in 
the laboratory in animal studies and in human application. Much has yet 
to be learned, however, about adverse outcomes, which is why scientists 
proceed cautiously without over promising and with respect for the 
moral considerations of their research.
  The latter gives me the greatest pause. An editorial in America 
Magazine said it well: ``The debate over embryonic stem cell research 
cannot be fully resolved because it is ignited by irreconcilable views 
of what reverence for life requires.''
  Let us recall Louise Brown, the first test tube baby. Her life began 
in vitro, as a fertilized egg. There are many potential Louise Browns, 
potential human beings conceived in the laboratory but leftover as 
cryogenic embryos. Are they to be discarded, or, can they ethically be 
used for stem cell research? That is the moral theology issue that we 
must resolve.
  The reality is that human life is established in creating an embryo, 
whether in vitro or in

[[Page E107]]

utero. Each of us has to decide the morality of this core element of 
the embryonic stem cell research issue. It is extraordinary research on 
the farthest frontier of science, experimenting with the very origins 
of human life. It is research which raises profound questions, anchored 
in moral theology, about the intrinsic nature of human life--when it 
begins, when it is infused with an immortal soul, and when it ends.
  The answers to those questions are not crystal clear; they are not 
subject merely to scientific formulation; the answers may simply lie in 
conscience between each of us and our God.
  For myself, I resolve the uncertainties of this moral dilemma in 
favor of the most vulnerable: unborn human life, which compels me to 
vote no on the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act (H.R. 3).

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