Senator Kerry Stumbles Badly on Stem Cells Research

SENATOR KERRY STUMBLES BADLY ON STEM CELLS RESEARCH -- (House of Representatives - October 09, 2004)

(Mr. SMITH of New Jersey asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, in the debate last night, Senator Kerry stumbled badly when asked a question on the stem cell research debate. He suggested that the only choice was between continuing cryogenically freezing those embryos or their destruction. That is not the only option. Those embryos can be and are being adopted.

A couple of weeks ago, right nearby, in the Capitol here, I met with more than a dozen little children who were once cryogenically frozen embryos who were adopted. Their parents, in their love and compassion, those who had made the contribution and had created these new embryos, allowed those individuals to be adopted; and those kids had names like Michael and Katie. They are not throwaways. No human being is a throwaway.

I hope we will disabuse ourselves, Mr. Speaker, of this false idea that there is such a thing as a "spare" embryo. Every embryo that is not wanted, that is not going to be implanted in the donor mother-these mothers, ought to allow that embyro to be adopted.