Some anti-abortion religious leaders are welcoming new draft guidelines from the National Institutes of Health on embryonic stem cell research as a balanced approach to the controversial procedure. The guidelines, issued April 17, permit federally funded research on stem cells derived from embryos that are no longer needed for fertility treatments. Most embryos that are not planned to be used in fertility treatments are discarded or kept in a type of frozen limbo. The draft guidelines presumably would not allow federal funds to be used to create embryos solely for research purposes.

President Obama will sign an executive order today lifting the ban on federal funding for embryonic stem cell research. The decision is not a surprise and despite the demonization of Obama coming from the right, it is a decision that John McCain promised to make as well. Furthermore, I believe that never in my lifetime will the Catholic Church convince non-Catholics that embryonic stem cell research is the affront to human dignity that we believe it to be. An interview with a single patient suffering from Parkinson's Disease is enough to move most voters away from concern for the dignity of a cluster of cells. That said, the justifications for the decision coming from the administration are so obnoxious or pathetic or both that this decision can properly be labeled Strike One against Obama.

When President Obama revoked a ban on federal funding for embryonic stem cell research he invited some Pro-life bloggers to claim again that he is a "baby killer." The controversy is not new. When still a candidate, Obama indicated he would reverse the prohibition that Bush had decreed on government-sponsored research with embryos. (Bush did nothing about privately-funded, for-profit research). This is certainly a moral issue that walks the boundary line that separates Church from State because no one claims the government or private enterprise has a license to kill a living person. But is an embryo a human person? When asked by Pastor Rick Warren about this issue, candidate Obama indicated that decisions about when conception takes place were above his "pay grade." This is rare humility for any politician.

The embryonic stem cell research debate is steeped with religious arguments, with some faith traditions convinced the research amounts to killing innocent life, others citing the moral imperative to alleviate suffering, and plenty of religious believers caught somewhere in between. President Barack Obama's order Monday opening the door for federal taxpayer dollars to fund expanded embryonic stem cell research again brings those often colliding interests to the fore. Cardinal Justin Rigali, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Committee on Pro-Life Activities, called Obama's move "a sad victory of politics over science and ethics." On the other side is the Rev. Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite, a United Church of Christ minister and a professor at Chicago Theological Seminary. "There is an ethical imperative to relieve suffering and promote healing," she said.

In a resounding confirmation that the Catholic church's pro-life concern extends to the brave new world of biotechnology, the Vatican today issued a tough document condemning the freezing of human embryos, genetic engineering, human cloning, animal/human genetic hybrids, and a number of other procedures described as affronts to human dignity. The document also reiterates existing bans on embryonic stem cell research, in-vitro fertilization, and the "morning after pill." In places, Vatican rhetoric is biting. The document charges that human cloning risks "biological slavery," that some biotech procedures reflect a "shameful and utterly reprehensible... eugenic mentality," and that widespread practice of IVF, which typically involves the destruction of unused embryos, implies "blithe acceptance" of an "enormous number of abortions." Its concern is not merely laying out moral teaching but also shaping social and political debates, citing an "urgent need to mobilize consciences in favor of life."

The Vatican's first authoritative statement on reproductive science in 21 years triggered intense debate yesterday about some of the most contentious issues in modern biological research, including stem cells, designer babies, cloning, and a host of techniques widely used to prevent pregnancy and to help infertile couples have children. The broad 32-page document, from the Catholic Church's highest rule-making authority, condemns as immoral the destruction of human embryos to obtain stem cells or treat infertility, and denounces any attempts at more futuristic possibilities such as cloning people or using gene therapy to enhance the human race.

First abortion, now embryonic stem-cell research. An issue that energizes social conservatives has once again been thrust into the presidential campaign, after Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr., the Democratic nominee for vice president, attacked Republicans on Tuesday for rejecting President Bush's limited support for using human embryonic cell lines to develop medical therapies. The Republican Party platform, just adopted in St. Paul, opposes any form of human embryonic stem-cell research. The McCain campaign, however, immediately cried foul, accusing Mr. Biden of "offensive" behavior and implying that the attack was directed at Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska, the Republican vice-presidential nominee, who in April gave birth to a son with Down syndrome and has promised parents of children with disabilities that she will be "a friend and advocate in the White House" if elected.

The nation's Roman Catholic bishops issued a document Friday warning against what they consider the moral dangers of embryonic stem cell research, saying it treats human beings as commodities and reduces procreation to a manufacturing process. With elections looming this fall, the bishops said they are not asking Catholics or the public to choose between science and religion. Instead, they are urging people to examine how society should conduct medical research.

In the controversy over the Human Fertility and Embryology Bill, which MPs voted on this week, people might be forgiven for thinking that only Roman Catholics care about the experiments which may blur the distinction between humans and animal life. This is not so, but comments from Protestant leaders and those of other faiths in the run-up to the debate have been noticably scarce in comparison. Catholic clergy, including Cardinal O'Brien in Scotland and Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor in Westminster, made their views known long ago about the morality of proposals to use animal material such as a combination of cows' eggs and human DNA to create stem cells.

The brief policy statement on embryonic stem-cell research that is to come before the U.S. bishops at their June 12-14 meeting in Orlando, Fla., is designed to set the stage for a later, more pastoral document explaining why the Catholic Church opposes some reproductive technologies. Although the topic of embryonic stem-cell research has been raised in several broader USCCB documents and has been the subject of testimony and many letters to Congress, there has never been a formal statement on the issue from the full body of bishops, said Cardinal Justin Rigali of Philadelphia, chairman of the pro-life committee, in an introduction to the draft document.