Ernest Istook Quotes
We cannot sacrifice innocent human life now for vague and exaggerated promises of medical treatments thirty of forty years from now. There are ways to pursue this technology and respect life at the same time.
Istook, Ernest. Press release. Official Website of Congressman Ernest Istook, U.S. House of Representatives, 24 May 2005.
George W. Bush followed his deeply held religious belief and that of a small, but controlling religious fundamentalist segment of the Republican Party and banned Federal funding of scientific research that involved fetal stem cells. The thinking of the religious fundamentalist was that if fetal stem cell research were to be extensive there might be a demand for the fetal cells which could come from abortion. This might create more abortions and it would mean that something good might result from a terrible evil—an abortion. This in turn might make abortion less terrible for some people and produce some moral ambiguity. At the same time there are tens of thousands of fertilized embryos available from in vitro fertilization procedures where extras are produced but usually not needed and often are disposed of as waste. However, these fundamentalists do not want to even allow those to be used. Hence, the “insanity” characterization which is more accurately illogicality.
At the time there were some religious extremists who interfered with important research as they did not believe that man should try and do what before only God could do. In modern times the religious interference in scientific research has tended to be about research involving contraception, abortion or embryonic stem cell research. The most dangerous by the 21st century were the PETA and other “animal rights” terrorist groups who not only physically sabotaged some scientific research but harmed people and endangered human life in the process. Most scientists however were not intimidated and lived up to their ethical obligation to continue scientific research despite the danger of the terrorists.
Stem cells are cells of the body that transform into all other cells as needed. Embryonic stem cells are the ones most easily transformed to create other needed cells. There was and is a large supply of embryonic stem cells but religious abortion opponents were concerned that if there were enough success there would be a market for fetal stem cells which would encourage some women to have abortions so that they could sell the embryonic stem cells. President Bush, to placate his religious right wing, had banned federal funds being used for fetal stem cell research. President Obama, who had campaigned on this issue and been elected, then overturned the ban with this quote.
Ernest James "Ernie" Istook Jr. is a former Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from Oklahoma's 5th congressional district. He held his congressional seat for 14 years, completing seven terms in the House. Currently, Istook is a Distinguished Fellow at The Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C., and also a talk radio host. In 2010, Istook became a Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School leading a study on Propaganda in American Politics.
