President Obama has opened a new era for stem cell research in America. He has asked the National Institutes of Health to draft new funding guidelines that will make federal research dollars available to US stem cell researchers without imposing unnecessary restrictions.
The restrictions were imposed on August 9, 2001, by Pres. George W. Bush. He approved the use of federal funds for embryonic stem cell research (something that outraged the religious right at the time), provided the cells were derived before the moment he gave the speech. Since then, the number of qualifying cell lines has shrunk while the number of new, unfunded lines has expanded.
Very few of us ever could grasp the moral difference between an embryo destroyed before August 2001 and one destroyed afterward. And most Americans favor embryonic stem cell research if it uses cells from embryos already created for fertility clinics but unused and ready to be destroyed anyway.
What's not so well known is that several religious groups support the Obama position. Jewish scholars are very clear in their support, as are experts in Islamic law. Christians are of course divided. The Vatican clearly opposes any use of embryos, but not all individual Catholics agree. Some Protestant denominations--the Presbyterian Church (USA), for example, or my own United Church of Christ--have gone on record supporting this research.
In the next few months, it will be interesting to see whether the NIH draft provides for funding for stem cell research on cell lines derived from embryos that were created especially for research. Here, more Americans are opposed, and NIH might be wise to draw a line: Offer funding for lines from donated embryos but not from embryos created expressly for research. Drawing the line at that point would also rule out cloning or nuclear transfer, since any cloned embryo is by definition created for research.
In the meantime, congratulations to Pres. Obama for recognizing the promise of this field of research, the moral complexities that lie ahead, and the need to set aside the artificial limits of the past while working toward consensus on the moral vision that guides the future.
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