Stem Cell Research: The Real Right-to-Life

by: LiberalLucy

Thu Jun 28, 2007 at 10:40:03 AM EDT

To an extent, they're right.

But show me one person here in Michigan or in the entire world who's life doesn't have the potential to be drastically altered by stem cell research.

You might be searching for quite some time.

Within the last 5 years, I've lost one grandfather to complications from Diabetes, another grandfather to Pulmonary Fibrosis, and a grandmother to ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease). My remaining two grandparents are fighting losing battles to Parkinson's Disease and another case of Pulmonary Fibrosis.

Thanks to a particularly severe case of Crohn's Disease, I've undergone over 70 hospitalizations and made it through 35 surgeries. I'm missing my large intestine, rectum, and one of the two major veins in my arm.  My stomach looks like a small war was waged on it, scar crisscrossing scar. My parents insurance company spent an astronomical amount keeping me alive the 10 years I suffered before entering remission.

As it stands now, the rest of my life will hinge on whether this disease, for which there is no known cause or cure, will suddenly reappear. As my doctors like to remind me, I'm not carrying around too many spare parts anymore.

My monthly out-of-pocket costs for the ostomy supplies that I need to stay alive would be over $300. I'm one of the lucky few to have insurance that covers the full cost.

If I had been born 50-75 years later in the future to a Michigan that not only allowed embryonic stem cell research, but promoted it, our Big Three research universities would take over where the Auto Industry has faltered in employment, income, and state revenue. There could be important advancements in the treatment for my disease, and the diseases that robbed me of my grandparents and face millions of Americans; or perhaps even a cure.

But this really isn't about me.

I believe in God, I believe in morality, I believe in a separation between Church and State.  I believe there's a reason we're all afforded the right to Life, Liberty and Happiness, Life being chiefly among them.

No matter what our misguided president believes, let's leave God in our hearts and minds and out of the research labs, our bedrooms and our classrooms.

The conservative argument that embryonic stem cell research destroys human life ignores a key point. The embryos donated by infertile couples that are later used for research are typically destroyed as medical waste. A recent study of infertile couples shows that over half would be willing to donate the unused embryos to stem cell research.

Stem cell research allows these embryos to really be part of the Pro-Life movement, by helping save millions of Americans suffering from a multitude of chronic and terminal illnesses.

How is it that microscopic cells in a Petri dish have more rights than that of living, breathing, tax-paying citizens?

Are those cells worth more than your mother, your brother, you?

Choose life, choose a positive economic future for our state, support embryonic stem cell research in Michigan.

You never know, your life could be depending on it.

1. Sign the Governor's petition
2. Support Rep. Andy Meisner's bill HB 4616 to repeal the state's ban on embryonic stem cell research.
3. Support Sen. Gretchen Whitmer's bill SB 0052 to do the same.
   
4. Support Rep. Mark Meadows bills HB 4617 and HB 4618,  that provide criminal penalties to anyone who attempts to clone human embryos, a concern of some opposed to embryonic stem cell research.
   
5. Speak out and educate others. Education and advocacy are the only tools to stop ignorance.