The state legislature’s Joint Committee on Economic Development and Emerging Technologies released its proposed stem cell research bill yesterday. The revised bill is more detailed that the original proposal to which we linked in this post.
Reportedly, the bill is expected to pass both houses of the legislature fairly easily, but it is not yet clear whether the House in particular will be able to muster the two-thirds majority needed to override Romney’s certain veto.
In other news, Romney’s wildly unprincipled "position" on this issue continues to defy common sense. Romney, you will recall, opposes research on stem cells created via somatic cell nuclear transfer (or "therapeutic cloning"), but supports research on "surplus" fertilized embryos at fertility clinics. Yesterday Romney explained his position as follows:
”If you create an embryo, a human embryo, which if you implant it in a woman could become a human child, you have created new human life," Romney said yesterday.
Well, well. Our Gov has utterly rejected any even remotely pro-choice tendencies he might once have shown by proclaiming (no doubt for the benefit of the religious right-wingers who may decide whether he gets the Republican nomination for President) that every embryo, even at the single-cell stage, is "new human life."
But wait — what about those fertilized embryos in the fertility clinic? Aren’t they "human life" according to Romney’s definition? Why is it OK to destroy those embryos for research purposes, while it’s not OK to destroy an embryo created via somatic cell nuclear transfer? And remember: somatic cell nuclear transfer does not create a fertilized embryo – it is an unfertilized egg that has been tricked into thinking it is fertilized so that it will start dividing. As Rep. Daniel Bosley (D-N. Adams) cogently put it yesterday:
”I can’t quite figure out where the governor’s objections are coming from. Somatic cell nuclear transfer involves transferring a nucleus into an egg, not an embryo. It is then tricked into thinking it is fertilized. It is not a fertilized embryo. Many scientists feel that it cannot be implanted, and, if it is implanted, that it will not grow."
Correct, Mr. Bosley. So: Romney supports research on embryos that are fertilized and presumably would grow into babies if implanted into a woman’s uterus, but he opposes research on embryos that are not fertilized and probably cannot grow into babies under any circumstances. WTF?
As we said yesterday, get in touch with your state reps and senators now. Tell them to support this bill. Our previous post has information on how to reach them, and how to find out who they are if you don’t know.
The Committee for a Better Commonwealth has released two new television ads that help demonstrate the importance of stem cell research. You can view them online at http://www.bettercommonwealth.org.