Pence speaks at "Snowflake" Press Conference

Washington, Jun 7, 2007 - WASHINGTON, DC — U.S. Congressman Mike Pence gave the following speech on the floor of the U.S. House this morning opposing a Democrat bill that expands taxpayer funding of human embryo-destroying stem cell research:

“I oppose this rule and rise to oppose the underlying bill as well. I must tell you as I listen to the gentlelady from Ohio bring her remarks to the floor, I just want to say: ‘There they go again.’

“There they go again telling the American people that this is a debate between science and ideology. When, in fact, destructive embryonic stem cell research – despite my strong moral objections – is completely legal in the United States of America.

“The debate today is not about whether embryonic stem cell research – research that destroys a human embryo for scientific research - should take place.  This is just about who pays for it.

“I can understand why members of the majority want to focus on this false choice between science and ideology. Language like ‘America becoming a hostile environment for medical research’ is amusing to me. Because destructive embryonic stem cell research – and I say this with a heavy heart – is legal in all fifty states in America.

“It is simply that liberals in this country are not content to simply have research that destroys human embryos for unproven science, but they want me to pay for it. And they want tens of millions of Americans who, like I do, believe that life begins at conception, to see their taxpayer dollars used to fund research that they find morally objectionable. That’s really the issue.

“The debate is not about whether we should do embryonic research. Would that is was. Would that we were here on the floor actually debating along the fault lines of science and morality. I’m ready for that debate.

“Forty-eight years and nine months ago today, I was an embryo. I’m ready to have the debate about the sanctity and the value of human life.

“But, we’re not having that debate today. I mean, America, since Roe versus Wade, has moved past the issue that was framed so eloquently by the late President Ronald Reagan, he said, ‘We cannot diminish that value of one category of human life without diminishing the value of all human life.’

“But our Supreme Court made a decision decades ago that we would put choice above life. But I will stay in that moral debate. But again, it’s not what we’re about today. Any one of my colleagues here on the floor and anyone listening in, let’s at least be honest about what we’re talking about. And that is, this debate is not about whether we should do embryonic stem cell research. And I know we’ve heard from wonderful scientists on our side of the aisle who’ve reminded us, inconvenient for the majority, that a hundred percent of the scientific breakthroughs that have taken place in stem cell research have taken place in adult stem cell research. There’s not been a single therapy developed from embryonic stem cell research. And there are scientific reasons why we can expect that there never will be given the instability of nascent human life at that stage.

“But I’m not an expert in that area. You know I’m a guy, I come from south of Highway 40 in Indiana. I keep things real simple.

“This is just a debate about who pays for research that destroys human embryos. And I simply want to say again, this debate is not really about what an embryo is. This debate is about who we are as a nation. Whether or not Congress will, as they did before, send legislation to the President of the United States that will take the taxpayer dollars of millions of pro-life Americans and use it to fund research that they find morally objectionable.

“But I can count, Mr. Speaker, I expect this legislation will pass again. But I thank God that we have a President in the White House who will, I have every confidence, veto this legislation just as he did before. And that we have a tenacious pro-life minority in this House that will defend the President’s veto.

“Let me say again, I believe that life begins at conception. I believe it’s morally wrong to create human life to destroy it for scientific research. But that is not what this debate is about.

“This debate is not about whether we should do embryonic stem cell research, it’s about who pays for it. And liberals in this Congress are not content simply to have embryonic stem cell research legal in all fifty states. They want pro-life Americans like me to get our wallets out and finance it. And I’m not having that. I yield back the balance of my time.”

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