McCain Campaign Releases New Ad Touting His Support For Stem Cell Research

Main Category: Stem Cell Research
Also Included In: Women's Health / Gynecology
Article Date: 16 Sep 2008 - 6:00 PDT

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Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) on Friday released a radio advertisement that states his support for stem cell research, The Hill reports. According to The Hill, the ad does not mention specifically human embryonic stem cell research. The ad says that McCain will "lead his congressional allies to improve America's health," adding that stem cell research has the potential to "unlock the mystery" of cancer, diabetes and heart disease and "help free families from fear and devastation of illness."

McCain campaign spokesperson Brian Rogers said the fact that the ad does not mention embryonic stem cell research specifically should not be seen as a signal he is backing away from his record supporting such research. "Clearly John McCain supports" embryonic stem cell research, Rogers said (Young, The Hill, 9/12).

Federal funding for embryonic stem cell research is allowed only for research using embryonic stem cell lines created on or before Aug. 9, 2001, under a policy announced by President Bush on that date. Bush twice has vetoed bills that would have allowed federal funding for research using stem cells derived from human embryos originally created for fertility treatments and willingly donated by patients (Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 9/9). McCain, Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) and Democratic vice presidential nominee Sen. Joe Biden (Del.) all voted for the legislation vetoed by Bush. Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, the Republican vice presidential nominee, opposes embryonic stem cell research.

According to The Hill, Obama's campaign has sought to portray McCain's support for embryonic stem cell research as "shallow," noting that the Republican Party's platform calls for a ban on such research. Rogers said that McCain's views on the issue would prevail if he were elected president (The Hill, 9/12).

Opinion Piece

Who is "in charge of Republican policy" on embryonic stem cell research and what "exactly would be the policy" of a McCain administration on the issue are "questions worth asking this fall," Jonathan Moreno and Rick Weiss, senior fellows at the Center for American Progress Action Fund, write in a Boston Globe opinion piece.

According to Moreno and Weiss, drafters of the Republican Party's platform "succumbed to the farthest right of the party's base" by including a ban on embryonic stem cell research in the platform -- a policy position that "goes beyond even Bush's arbitrary and counterproductive current limits on federal funding." Republicans got "themselves into this box" in part because some delegates probably did not understand the "logical implications" of a "subtle word change" in the platform, but other delegates "clearly did and were none too pleased," Moreno and Weiss write. The article notes that antiabortion advocate James Bopp commented during the platform committee meeting that the platform should not prohibit therapeutic research.

The authors add that just as the platform committee was being "hijacked," advances were occurring in embryonic stem cell research. "Do McCain and Palin appreciate that the new research in diabetes and Down syndrome, not to mention similar recent advances in other diseases, simply could not have proceeded without lessons being learned from embryonic stem cells?" the authors ask, adding, "Apparently their party's platform writers don't" (Moreno/Weiss, Boston Globe, 9/15).

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