Harris Poll and Embryonic Stem Cell Research
The Harris Poll I referenced in the last post also shows wide support for embryonic stem cell research, 57-19 percent. I think the support is about right, but the opposition is too low. The reason for this (in my view) inaccuracy is that the question is misleading. The ESCR debate is not about whether it should or should not be permitted. Rather, at least in its most pervasive debate, the fight is about President Bush's restrictions on federal funding. There are those (and I know people like this) who support the research but oppose forcing taxpayers to pay for it.
Besides, the real crux of the issue isn't ESCR per se, but rather, whether we should permit human cloning. I wish Harris would ask whether people support or oppose the making of human embryos through cloning for, among many potential uses, destruction and research on their stem cells. In every poll I have seen on that question, the majority is in opposition to human somatic cell nuclear transfer, which is precisely why the pro-cloners work so hard to convince people that cloning isn't really cloning.
Harris should change the first stem cell question to get a more accurate take on what people think about the actual controversy, and add a query about the second, because that is where most of the future political fight will be centered.
Not that the pollsters asked for my advice...
posted by Wesley J. Smith @ 7:38 AM
3 Comments
3 Comments:
Mr. Smith,
You wrote, "The ESCR debate is not about whether it should or should not be permitted. Rather...the fight is about President Bush's restrictions on federal funding. ... Besides, the real crux of the issue isn't ESCR per se, but rather, whether we should permit human cloning."
What do you mean when you say the debate is not whether ESCR should be permitted? The debate is about the morality of destroying human embryos. If embryos are members of the human community, they should not be killed. So whether we permit ESCR is the heart of the debate. Cloning is a related, but separate issue.
It also sounds like you are ceding a loss in the ESCR debate, and shifting the focus to cloning.
Please tell me I am misunderstanding you.
Jason
You are referencing the moral debate. The political debate is elsewhere, which is what I was addressing. Like it or not, there are no proposals to outlaw the research altogether anywhere in this country, as far as I am aware. (I think a few states may prohibit, but the argument "they are going to be destroyed anyway," carried the day throughout the country and even among many who describe themselves as pro life, when it came to ESCR. People still oppose creating embryos for research, whether via fertilization or SCNT.)
My moral position is that no human life should be used instrumentally. But one must contest the political debate where it is, not where one might wish it were.
Thanks for writing.
Mr. Smith,
I understand your distinction, and agree with you.
On another note, what happened to Washington's cloning bill, SB 5594? Per Washington's legislative website it looks like it died in committee. Is that your understanding as well?
Jason
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