Presentation and Discussion on:The Assault on Embryonic Stem Cell Research

The Chief Judge from the U.S. District Court for Washington D.C. issued a ruling stopping all federal funding of embryonic stem cell research. While a panel of judges has temporarily lifted the funding ban, they were careful to note this decision is in no way an endorsement of stem cell research but rather a means to provide them with more time to come to a decision. Embryonic stem cells have the ability to develop into any other cell in the human body and are invaluable for research and potential cures. The District Court ruling has resulted in immediate cuts to tens of millions of dollars of cutting edge research into fundamental questions of cell biology and rapid elimination of federal funding to many lines of current research which offer great promise of medical breakthroughs on conditions including diabetes, Parkinson's disease, and many others.

This push-pull shines a spotlight on the powerful political forces aggressively pushing the fundamentalist Christian dogma that treats a fertilized egg as a full human being, and treats women's bodies as nothing more than incubators. It sheds light on how the assault on scientific discovery and scientific thinking did not end with the Bush presidency. And it points to the great harm done by the Obama administration in leading people to seek common ground with fascist forces.

What we need: a determined fight to resist this attack as a crucial part of the battle for revolution and a radically different world.