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While a draft plank in the Republican Party’s platform supporting a constitutional amendment banning abortion has gotten plenty of attention, so far unnoticed is another culture war provision tucked right alongside it — an opposition to federal funding for embryonic stem cell research. “We oppose the killing of embryos for their stem cells. We oppose Federal funding of embryonic stem cell research,” the draft language reads, mirroring previous years’ platforms. You’d be forgiven for having déjà vu from 2004, when stem cell research was at the top of the agenda of both parties and sparked fierce and emotional debate. It’s completely vanished from the political scene since — what happened?
Stem cells used to be one of the big three social issues dividing Americans, along with abortion and gay rights. It was a “cultural debate engulfing our country today,” as then-Kansas Sen. and now Gov. Sam Brownback, a staunch social conservative, said in 2004. The issue played a major role in that year’s presidential race, with Democrat John Kerry suggesting that “millions of lives” were at stake by...
Stem cells used to be one of the big three social issues dividing Americans, along with abortion and gay rights. It was a “cultural debate engulfing our country today,” as then-Kansas Sen. and now Gov. Sam Brownback, a staunch social conservative, said in 2004. The issue played a major role in that year’s presidential race, with Democrat John Kerry suggesting that “millions of lives” were at stake by...