Science, morality, and stem cells

Ethical questions in the wake of President Obama's reversal of the ban on some embryonic stem-cell research

President Obama's stem-cell policy "one of those definitional 'change we can believe in' moments," said John Nichols in The Nation. By reversing George W. Bush's ban on federal funding for research using new embryonic stem-cell lines, Obama is making it clear that "science and morality can mix."

No, he's showing that science and politics can mix, said Robert P. George and Eric Cohen in The Wall Street Journal. "Bush's policy was one of moderation," because it permitted the science to continue without encouraging the destruction of human embryos. Obama is pretending to be calm and moderate while advancing radical policies that "will promote a whole new industry of embryo creation and destruction," funded by taxpayers.

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