Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act of 2007

STEM CELL RESEARCH ENHANCEMENT ACT OF 2007 -- (House of Representatives - January 11, 2007)

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mrs. EMERSON. Mr. Speaker, 2 years ago I talked about the process and the people that convinced me to vote for H.R. 810. I discussed what the idea of pro-life means to me. I remembered my late husband, Bill Emerson, to this body and talked about the victims of cancer and paralysis and muscular dystrophy and dementia in my district and throughout the Nation. We talked about something upon which we can all agree: human life is precious.

It is a sad reality, though, that human embryos are discarded in this country every day. They are certified as waste and disposed of in the earliest stages of their prenatal lives.

Defeating this legislation will not change that fact. Embryos that can't live outside the mother's womb will be discarded regardless of what we do today.

Where we have the opportunity to make a difference is to take the pleuripotent stem cells which hold great promise for medical research and the afflictions I mentioned earlier and use them to help other precious lives survive, to defeat diseases for which we know no cures and to give a fulfilling, meaningful existence to millions. Like all medical breakthroughs, it will take a lot of hard work and a little luck.

But I can't stand in this House today and say to a little boy I know with muscular dystrophy named James, to a young man suffering from paralysis in Campbell, Missouri named Cody, to my daughter's friend, Will, I will not say to them, never. I will not stand in the way of their progress. I will not help them extinguish their dreams for themselves and others with their same afflictions. I will not let any of our short lives be shortened unnecessarily so.

This bill is not about hope. This bill is about the pursuit of cures for diseases that afflict us, diseases that take our loved ones and destroy families and freeze us in single moments of time in which we become helpless. This bill is about fighting back and not letting any part of human life, no matter how small, be wasted.

No one I have met who has urged the support of this issue to me would mind going to the grave untreated by the benefits of embryonic stem cell research as long as we are trying, as long as we never say never to them. No one I have ever met who has urged the support of this issue to me, Mr. Speaker, would mind going to the grave untreated by the benefits of embryonic stem cell research as long as we are trying, as long as we never say never to them.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

http://thomas.loc.gov/