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DeGETTE RESPONDS TO VATICAN BIOETHICS DOCUMENT
Friday December 12, 2008
WASHINGTON – U.S Rep. Diana DeGette (D-CO), Vice Chair of the Committee on Energy and Commerce, today responded to the Vatican’s release of a bioethics document condemning reproductive rights and embryonic stem cell research:
“The Vatican’s bioethics document is an extremist agenda for rejecting personal reproductive choices. Most Americans strongly oppose the idea that individuals should not be able to have choices about having children. As stated, the Vatican’s position would even deny infertile couples the joy of having a child through assisted reproduction. While I respect the Vatican’s right to its opinion, I assert that ethical embryonic stem cell research has the potential to protect the life of millions of patients who suffer from many debilitating diseases.”
DeGette is the co-chair of the Congressional Pro-Choice Caucus and the chief architect of legislation overturning President Bush’s August 2001 directive restricting embryonic stem cell research. The legislation has been passed twice with strong bipartisan support in both a Republican and a Democratic Congress only to meet the President’s veto twice.
“The Vatican’s bioethics document is an extremist agenda for rejecting personal reproductive choices. Most Americans strongly oppose the idea that individuals should not be able to have choices about having children. As stated, the Vatican’s position would even deny infertile couples the joy of having a child through assisted reproduction. While I respect the Vatican’s right to its opinion, I assert that ethical embryonic stem cell research has the potential to protect the life of millions of patients who suffer from many debilitating diseases.”
DeGette is the co-chair of the Congressional Pro-Choice Caucus and the chief architect of legislation overturning President Bush’s August 2001 directive restricting embryonic stem cell research. The legislation has been passed twice with strong bipartisan support in both a Republican and a Democratic Congress only to meet the President’s veto twice.
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