Not in his name

Pro-lifers say it would be wrong to
promote embryo research as Reagan legacy

Interim staff

Ronald Reagan’s death from Alzheimer’s triggered an outpouring of support for human embryonic stem cell research from numerous members of Congress emboldened by the comments of Reagan’s widow, Nancy.

But, in an article in Human Events Online Michael Reagan protested the use of his father’s name to support the research. “Two members of the family have been long foes of this process of manufacturing human beings – dad, Ronald Reagan during his lifetime, and me.” He repeated the words of one of his father’s closest friends, William Clark, who wrote in the New York Times that “I have no doubt that he (Ronald Reagan) would have urged our nation to look to adult stem cell research – which has yielded many clinical successes – and away from the destruction of developing human lives, which has yielded none.” Michael Reagan, like Clark, called upon scientists to explore ethical forms of stem cell research.

A June 10 Washington Post article pointed out that stem cell experts have confessed that embryonic stem cell research has almost no practical potential to help Alzheimer’s, a fact scientists have not rushed to clarify.

For his part, President George W. Bush has reiterated his opposition to embronic stem cell research.