LETTERS: DON'T FORCE TAXPAYERS TO FUND EMBRYO RESEARCH

To the editor:

At the risk of being accused of trying to take the moral high ground, I would like to respond to Dr. J. Russell Felker's opinion on the stem-cell research dilemma.

I wonder what Felker's opinion of abortion is? His opinion affects his view on this research. After all, if that embryo isn't alive, then why not? My opinion is that the embryo is a child. And that definitely affects my view on this issue. That is why I will not support the use of my tax money to fund such research. And I must do what I can to stop it.

Felker states, "Research should and will continue on the adult stem cells. If they ultimately prove as capable as or better than embryonic ones, everybody wins." Everybody wins? No. Those embryonic children will lose. They will die. And I will lose, because I will have been betrayed by my government again to be forced to fund the killing of our children.

It took the Roman Catholic Church 350 years to make amends for its condemnation of Galileo. This is the suppression of science by religion, the challenge of new discoveries to ancient beliefs, the struggle against intolerance for freedom of thought. The Roman Catholic Church has been opposed to in-vitro fertilization from the start. It has always stressed adoption for those couples who were not able to have children. Don't presume to suggest that the church will somehow make amends for its "error" on embryonic stem-cell research 300 years from now.

If you want to fund embryonic stem-cell research, send in your donation. Don't force others to pay for something to which they have a moral objection.

ROBERT G. HENDRIX

Cape Girardeau