Mormon Church Won't Take a Stance on Stem Cell Research
Source: Deseret News; July 6, 2001

Mormon Church Won't Take a Stance on Stem Cell Research

Salt Lake City, UT -- The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
declined Friday to take a stand on whether it is moral to allow research
on stem cells from unborn children -- but it called for "cautious
scrutiny."

Sens. Orrin Hatch (R-OR) and Gordon Smith (R-OR) -- both Mormons -- are
pushing the White House to allow such research. That research has been
denounced by pro-life groups and top House GOP leaders as akin to pushing
abortions.

In response to media inquiry, the church -- which has long strongly
opposed abortion except in cases of rape, incest or endangerment of the
mother -- issued the following statement:

"While the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles have not
take a position at this time on the newly emerging field of stem cell
research, it merits cautious scrutiny. The proclaimed potential to provide
cures or treatments for many serious diseases needs careful and continuing
study by conscientious, qualified investigators. As with any emerging new
technology, there are concerns that must be addressed. Scientific and
religious viewpoints both demand that strict moral and ethical guidelines
be followed," the statement said.

Hatch surprised pro-life advocates when he recently sent a 12-page letter
to the Bush administration urging it to allow stem cell research on human
embryos that he said would be discarded anyway by fertility clinics.

Such in vitro fertilization clinics, long opposed by the pro-life
community, routinely create more embryos than they implant in a mother's
uterus, and they destroy the extras.

Hatch argued in his letter, quoting several University of Utah doctors,
that allowing research with such cells could lead to breakthroughs against
cancer, Alzheimer's disease, diabetes and heart disease. Hatch also argued
that life does not begin until such embryos are implanted in a womb.
However, pro-life groups argue that life begins at conception -- and that
discarding embryos amounts to killing an unborn child.

Hatch wrote, "To me a frozen embryo is more akin to a frozen unfertilized
egg or frozen sperm than to a fetus naturally developing in the body of a
mother."

Gayle Ruzicka, president of the pro-life Utah Eagle Forum, said this week,
"When sperm and an egg meet, you have life. When you have a beginning of
life, whether in a dish and they freeze it, or in the uterus, it's still
life . . . Experimenting on human beings is wrong."

Among other members of Utah's congressional delegation (all of whom are
LDS), only Rep. Jim Matheson, (D-UT) also supports stem cell research.
Others were taking a more cautious approach.

"I do support the research," Matheson said. "I have met with so many
people who provide compelling information about the positive impacts it
could have for people in their lives."

Matheson, who supports abortion, also said he does not feel that stem cell
research "amounts to abortion . . . But I don't diminish that there are a
lot of people who have questions."

Meanwhile, Sen. Bob Bennett (R-UT) according to spokeswoman Andrea Wright,
"has not taken a position yet. He's still studying it."

Likewise, Rep. Chris Cannon (R-UT) according to spokesman Jeff Hartley,
"will weigh the law, the science and the theology before making his
decision." Hartley said Cannon has a daughter fighting cancer, so he
favors advancing science as quickly as possible with technology. "However,
all advances must be morally based."

Rep. Jim Hansen (R-UT) could not be reached for comment.