WASHINGTON — The Michigan Catholic Conference has praised a federal judge’s ruling that has halted funding to embryonic stem-cell research.
Chief Judge Royce C. Lamberth of U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruled on Aug. 23 that the Obama administration’s guidelines for funding embryonic stem-cell research violate federal law and stopped such funding while a lawsuit against it continues.
David Maluchnik, director of communications for the Lansing-based MCC, public policy voice of all seven Michigan dioceses, called the judge’s decision a sound one.
“We believe the federal judge has made a rational decision based on current federal statute that prohibits taxpayer dollars from being allocated toward the destruction of human embryos,” said Maluchnik. “It is our hope that any appeal of this ruling is found to be without merit.”
Catholic teaching strongly supports adult stem-cell research but opposes research that involves the destruction of human embryos.
Lamberth said in his 15-page ruling granting a temporary injunction that Drs. James L. Sherley and Theresa Deisher, both adult stem-cell researchers, had standing to challenge the guidelines because they faced the possibility of losing funding from the National Institutes of Health .
“By allowing federal funding of ESC research, the guidelines are in violation of the Dickey-Wicker amendment,” Lamberth wrote.
The ruling came in a lawsuit originally filed on behalf of the two doctors and others.
— Michigan Catholic reporter Robert Delaney and Catholic News Service contributed to this report.
