Keep Your (Tax) Laws Off My Body

Three science professors write in today’s Washington Post that Congress should overturn Bush’s executive order limiting stem cell research on embryos instead of enacting innovative (and in some cases quite strange) ways to get around it. For what it’s worth, I tend to agree with both sides of this debate. Yes, embryos are human life (sorry feminists but that’s not a giraffe or alligator growing inside a woman’s stomach). The federal government, however, does not have a right to ban stem cell research (sorry American Taliban you guys are crazy).

At the risk of offending Michael J. Fox and numerous others, I must admit that Bush’s executive order is good policy. It’s a smart compromise on a complicated social issue. Contrary to what many scientists and journalists proclaim, Bush's executive order does not limit all stem cell research. It only limits stem cell research conducted with taxpayer dollars. Researchers are free to do whatever they want with their own money or some corporation's or non-profit's money. What they don’t have a right to do is take money from the many Americans who (rightly or wrongly) find stem cell research repulsive and/or immoral and use it for such research. This not-so-radical proposal is merely an extension of the “pro-choice” mantra. Don’t like abortion or stem cell research? Fine, don’t participate in either; but don’t force your personal choices on others. Support abortion and stem cell research? Fine, participate in both if you want; but don’t force your personal choices on others. This is the essence of what it really means to be pro-choice (and in my opinion an American).