“The use of taxpayers’ money to promote science which destroys life in order to save life – I’m against that, and therefore if the bill does that, I will veto it…” President George W. Bush

With a logic that can only come from a man with a long history of disdaining science, or at best ambivalence, President Bush has announced it is better to promote a policy that results in hundreds of thousands of embryos ending up in the trash than to promote one that allows science to use these cells to pursue research that may save lives. In short, when given the choice between “destroying life in order to save life” or simply destroying it, President Bush stands firmly behind simply destroying it.

The embryos in question are known as a “blastocyst”, which literally consists of a microscopic three or four day old ball of cells. Only those no longer available for fertility treatments would be used for research purposes. The alternative would literally be destruction.

The Senate is currently debating stem cell research legislation, legislation with strong bi-partisan support. The President has vowed to veto it should it reach his desk in spite of polls showing Americans by more than a 2 to 1 margin support federal funding for stem cell research. The President has made veto threats many times before and has never followed through. It is anybody’s guess whether he will actually have the courage of his convictions this time, however misguided they may be.

Over the course of his administration the President has threatened to veto the following:

• The Homeland Security Bill (FOXNews.com, 7/22/06)
• A “Bloated Supplemental Spending Bill (FOXNews.com, 4/25/06
• A bill to prevent the Dubai ports takeover (New York Times, 2/21/06)
• The SAFE Act (NewsMax.com Wires, 1/29/04)
• The Republicans massive $275 billion highway bill (Washington Times, 4/2/04)
• Budget bill over lack of sufficient NASA funds (NASA News, 4/24/04)
• “…an $87 billion package for Iraq and Afghanistan if Congress converts any Iraqi rebuilding money into loans.” (CNN.com, 10/22/03)
• To prevent changes to FCC changes (Chicago Tribune, 9/12/03)
• Defense Bill “President Wants Costly New Disabled Military Pension Benefits Eliminated (Washington Post, 10/7/2002)

So who knows if he will veto to ensure unused embryos are destroyed rather than used to advance medical science. One never can tell when Bush will finally follow through on a promise. Regardless, there is nothing remotely “pro-life” about his position.