AN OWN GOAL:

Catholic Bishops Condemn Obama Admin's Embryonic Stem Cell Research Rules (Steven Ertelt, 4/21/09, LifeNews.com)

Cardinal Rigali says the NIH guidelines "mark a new chapter in divorcing biomedical research from its necessary ethical foundation."

"Without unconditional respect for the life of each and every member of the human race, research involving human subjects does not represent true progress. It becomes another way for some human beings to use and mistreat others for their own goals," he told LifeNews.com in a statement. "Suffering patients and their families deserve better, through increased support for promising and ethically sound stem cell research and treatments that harm no one."

Looking to practical concerns, Rigali is worried that the new guidelines are too broad in that they allow destruction of newly created embryos who were never frozen, thus increasing the prospects for a rushed and biased consent process.

Also, despite the claims of backers of the Obama decision that it would only involve human embryos who would otherwise be destroyed, Rigali says that, for the first time, "federal tax dollars will be used to encourage destruction of living embryonic human beings for stem cell research – including human beings who otherwise would have survived and been born."