Add your name to Sen. Levin's letter to the President

Earlier this month, the Senate voted 63-34 to pass the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act of 2007 (click the link to read the details). President Bush has threatened to veto the bill. As you might recall, Bush used the only veto of his presidency to reject the stem cell bill last year, saying such research "crosses a moral boundary that our decent society needs to respect."

My response to that veto echoes Abi's at 604:

Yessiree — the Republican administration has profound respect for the sanctity of life at the cellular level. Too bad it has such criminal disregard for the well being of the finished package.

Sen. Carl Levin has a preemptive response to this latest bill. He's circulating a letter for voters to co-sign urging the president to end his administration's burdensome restrictions on embryonic stem cell research, and he'll be forwarding it to the White House next week. I already signed the letter and received a response from Sen. Levin that needs to be shared for the powerful, eloquent and heart wrenching message it contains:

I want to send my thanks to those who are co-signing my letter to the President urging him to end his administration's burdensome restrictions on embryonic stem cell research. [...]

Many people wrote powerful responses to my message, sharing your personal feelings on this issue. A woman from the Upper Peninsula, whose family recently experienced the heartbreaking effects of her father's Alzheimer's disease, made clear why the President's current policy is so misguided:

"Let me understand - it's okay to throw embryonic cells out in the trash, but it's not okay to use them to develop cures for the human race? And it's okay to allow human beings to live a tortured life of existence only to leave their family with less than nothing but pain that overshadows a lifetime of memories? But it's inhumane to use embryonic stem cells to ease this suffering. Is this not God's free will wasted?" [emphasis mine]

Her letter is a compelling reminder of the human cost of further delay. Every day that we unnecessarily restrict stem cell research is another day lost in discovering the potentially life-saving cures it may unlock.

If you agree and wish to sign Sen. Levin's letter to the President urging him to lift the restrictions on stem cell research and to make life-saving cures possible, please click here.