Right to Life of Michigan's Blog

Wednesday, March 14, 2007

True Hope vs. Real Hype

The editorial below was submitted by Right to Life of Michigan to the Greenville Daily News.

True Hope vs. Real Hype

Hardly a day goes by that The Daily News doesn't highlight some new discovery in medical technology. One exciting area of research is stem cell research. Unfortunately, there is a lot of misinformation about this research, which research has the most potential and the laws in Michigan.

The Research -While embryonic stem cell research receives the lion's share of attention, most people are unaware that research using stem cells from adults and umbilical cord blood is so far ahead of embryonic stem cell research that if they were in a race - embryonic stem cell research wouldn't be able to catch a glimpse of adult stem cell research with binoculars. The number of ailments in humans which have been treated or helped by stem cells from life-affirming sources is more than 70 while the number of treatments from research which requires the destruction of human embryos is zero. There are more than a thousand clinical trials underway or soon to be underway using adult stem cells or stem cells from umbilical cords while there is not a single clinical trial using embryonic stem cells. The reason for this is embryonic stem cells have a number of huge hurdles to get past before they can even be tested in humans. First off, in animal studies embryonic stem cells form tumors which can be deadly. Second, embryonic stem cells face the possibility of being rejected by a patient's immune system since the stem cells won't have the same DNA as the patient. Researchers hope to overcome the second obstacle by creating cloned human embryos and then killing those cloned embryos for their stem cells.

The Potential - Despite the huge obstacles embryonic stem cells have to overcome and the amazing progress made with adult stem cells, for the last 5-plus years we've heard over and over again about how embryonic stem cells have the "most potential" or the "most promise." It's time for a reality check. The state of California plans to spend $3 billion dollars on embryonic stem cell research and human cloning for research experiments in the next 10 years. Even though California researchers will have an almost inconceivable amount of funding at their fingertips, the group in charge of the funding recently revealed that at the end of the 10 years, they hope there will be some research with embryonic stem cells in "early stage clinical trials." In other words, they are hopeful that after 10 years and $3 billion dollars, embryonic stem cell research will be at a place which is still far behind where adult stem cell research is right now. That "potential" just doesn't sound too promising.

The Law - Embryonic stem cell research is not banned in Michigan. It is going on right now at the University of Michigan with federal tax dollars. Michigan law prohibits the killing of human embryos for research purposes. Michigan law also makes it a crime to try to clone human beings. Michigan has the strongest ban on human cloning in the United States. The legislation Rep. Andrew Meisner and Sen. Gretchen Whitmer support doesn't strengthen Michigan's ban on human cloning. It does just the opposite. It overturns Michigan's ban on human cloning and makes it legal to create cloned human embryos for experimentation.

Don't be swayed by the hype. Science has shown us researchers don't need to create and kill human embryos to treat human beings suffering from horrible ailments. Let's focus our resources on research which works and doesn't kill human embryos and not on research which doesn't work and requires the deaths of human embryos.

Monday, March 12, 2007

LifeBeat for March 10, 2007

Dr. Richard Land, President of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, discusses how the prolife movement is changing hearts and minds. He also talks about the future of the federal Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act and what churches can do to stop abortion.

LifeBeat for March 3, 2007

Dr. Alveda King, Director of African American Outreach for Gospel of Life, speaks again about how abortion has affected the African-American community.

LifeBeat for February 24, 2007

Dr. Alveda King, Director of African American Outreach for Gospel of Life, speaks about her personal experience with abortion.

LifeBeat for February 17, 2007

Georgette Forney of the Silent No More Awareness campaign talks about how abortion often comes with aftereffects. Too often women choose abortion because they feel they have no other choice.

LifeBeat for February 10, 2007

Georgette Forney of the Silent No More Awareness campaign speaks about her experience at the March for Life. Georgette also talks about how pro-choice advocates react to the Silent No More Awareness Campaign.

LifeBeat for February 3, 2007

Georgette Forney of the Silent No More Awareness Campaign talks about the Silent No More Awareness Campaign, its activities and its goals. Women involved with Silent No More share their experience with abortion and its aftermath.

Monday, January 29, 2007

LifeBeat for January 27

Father John Riccardo again talks about how churches can share the prolife message and reach out to women who've had abortions. Father John also discusses the importance of talking about abortion calmly and educating others.

LifeBeat for January 20

Father John Riccardo discusses the importance of Sanctity of Human Life Sunday and what effect 34 years of legalized abortion have had on our nation.

Monday, January 8, 2007

LifeBeat for January 13

Wesley Smith talks about some of the misinformation which surrounds what a human embryo is and why this misinformation exists. He also discusses futile care theory and the importance of fighting against it.

Friday, January 5, 2007

LifeBeat for January 6

Wesley Smith discusses the passing of Amendment 2 in Missouri. He also shares how some in the biotech industry have provided large amounts of money to push the propanganda that states need to have embryonic stem cell research and human cloning for research.

Friday, December 29, 2006

LifeBeat for December 30

Wesley Smith discusses what happened in bio-ethical issues in 2006. Wesley also talks about the parole of Jack Kevorkian. Jack Kevorkian assisted in the suicides of at least 130 people, many of whom weren't terminally ill and some of whom weren't even sick.

Monday, December 18, 2006

LifeBeat for December 23

Right to Life of Michigan President Barbara Listing discusses future issues facing the prolife movement in Michigan. She also discusses what would happen in Michigan if Roe v. Wade was overturned.

LifeBeat for December 16

Right to Life of Michigan President Barbara Listing talks about some prolife accomplishments over the last year in Michigan. Michigan has been ranked as the #1 state for legislation which defends human life. Right to Life of Michigan also works to reach women who are experiencing unplanned pregnancies through television advertisements, yellow page ads, and through the internet.