By Laura Eleanor Gagnon
Thomas Jefferson wrote that “liberty . . . is the great parent of science and of virtue; and that a nation will be great in both, always in proportion as it is free.†Generations of Americans pride themselves on being citizens of the country granting the most freedoms in the world. Liberty is a cornerstone of our distinguished nation. However, the federal government has gravely impaired that celebrated liberty in the area of scientific research. Federal funding of embryonic stem cell research was prohibited, thereby inhibiting the opportunity for scientific greatness that Jefferson so eloquently described.
Of course, scientific advancement generally does not come without a price tag, especially when the advancement is truly groundbreaking. Sometimes the cost involves endangering our wildlife; other times it involves destroying the environment. In the case of embryonic stem cell research, the price tag for innovation may mean the destruction of embryos. Many Americans struggle with this tradeoff: is it worth ending the potential lives of these embryos in order to conduct research that may treat and even cure diseases crippling over 128 million Americans?