Thursday, October 21, 2004
A close personal friend of mine wrote this article a few years ago:
From the Clarion Ledger
Jackson Ms.
September 6th, 2001
This Quadriplegic doesn't want cure at expense of unborn
This is the first time I have ever written a letter to an editor, but the gravity of the debate on stem cell research strikes me to the core, both physically and ethically.
I was diagnosed with spinal cord tumors 21 years ago and have been a quadriplegic for 16 years. Despite my disability, I still work a full-time job as an electrical engineer and thus am still a taxpayer. I am married and the father of a 7-year-old boy and a 2- year-old girl.
In the 20 years that I?ve fought my disease, I have seen such "exciting research" come and go. It is with this history that I watch the current batch of scientists envision great cures and then request federal grant money.
We cannot let this hope and dream cloud the ethical nightmare embryonic stem cell research entails. It is no better than the pragmatic rationalization of accepting gold from the teeth of Holocaust victims.
With all my heart I hope stem cell research finds the cure for my disease and that of others.
My wife and I struggle for two hours every morning to get me ready to work. I push through the pains and frustrations encountered daily to keep on working and being productive.
My heart is broken every time my daughter falls down and I can't pick her up to comfort her, when I can't play catch with my son, when I want to take a walk with my wife and can't hold her hand.
I know the cost only too well that my family and would have to bear, but I would not be able to accept a cure to my paralysis or cancer if the cure is a result of the death of another human being.
I must insist that my tax money not fund embryonic stem cell research. I cannot stand on the bones of the unborn.
David S. Roudebush
I feel for Christopher Reeves' family and pray for them. Mr. Reeve was not a bad person but he did allow his own selfish desires to blind him to the barbarity of the murdering of innocent children in the name of science. I hope that his memory is not abused to advance a cause which has no place in the Truth, Justice, And The American Way that Superman stood for. There is no Justice in sawing up a pre-born baby.
# posted by SGT USMC 1ea @ 10/21/2004 04:18:00 PM 
