Today Ace stepped into the fray re Stem Cell research. Bill from INDC had this topic before and I caused me to stop reading that blog for awhile.

The comments got heated and missed the point. I seem to be easily ignored in that kind of forum, or maybe the pro-funding people have no counter to the following.

The fight, as I see it, is about federal funding. Not the legality of the research or the ties to the abortion issue. It is a simple matter of funding. Given that, it follows that no matter what your political feelings on big government vs. small government, left vs. right, green vs. purple the feds should not be funding this based on past rulings. In the past, many worthy organizations and causes have been denied federal funding because one group or another opposes the aims of the group or project. The fight over religious organizations getting federal dollars for homeless projects is one example.

An example that is close to this situation is The Boy Scouts of America. Just one of many times that opponents of the Boy Scouts opposed funding (sound familiar?)

School board had created a limited public forum by permitting numerous organizations, including churches, private membership organizations, athletic clubs and other outside groups, to utilize its school facilities for after-hour use; the board sought to bar the Boy Scouts from renting and leasing school facilities because the Scouts' membership and leadership policies banning homosexuals discriminated on the basis of sexual orientation

I happen to agree that the Boy Scouts should be excluded from getting federal funds or using federally funded facilities (state and local too). They are free do as they please, associate with who they please and have any rules for membership that they please as long as they don’t use money from people that oppose them. Church groups also fall into this category.

Why is stem cell funding any different? I might venture a guess that more people are opposed to the use of fetuses in this manner than there are opposed to the Boy Scout’s policies. Why would we treat this matter any different and why aren’t the same taxpayers in court to stop this funding?

Now, I am not saying that the feds have no business funding research, but if a significant number of people are offended by a research project, they should take that into consideration. I am also not proposing outlawing this research, just don’t make people that are fundamentally opposed to it pay the bills.

Anyone on the “pro funding” side have an answer?

Anyone?... Bueller?... Anyone?