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Email: "Michael J. Fox is Right About One Thing: Pro-life Movement Must Oppose IVF"

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However, Fox is wrong about the use of unethical embryonic stem cell research BY LifeSiteNews.com By Hilary White  ST. LOUIS, October 30, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Actor and Parkinson’s sufferer, Michael J. Fox, has responded to accusations that he either acted his symptoms or that he deliberately went off his medicationsÂfor an ad supporting Democrat Senatorial candidate Clare McCaskill. In an interview with CBS’ Katie Couric, Fox unloads a bombshell on the pro-life movement saying that there has been little opposition to in vitro fertilization which has created the “spare embryos” so desired by stem cell researchers.   In the run-up to the November 7th mid-term elections, political debate in Missouri embryonic research has become a central campaign issue with a constitutional amendment in the offing that will allow cloning and the commercialization of women’s ova.  Fox was featured in a powerfully affecting ad supporting McCaskill’s candidacy. With strong tremors shaking his body, Fox says, “What you do in Missouri matters to millions of Americans -ÂAmericans like me.”  The next day, US conservative talk show host, Rush Limbaugh, accused Fox of faking or exaggerating his symptoms for emotional appeal. Limbaugh said Fox was either acting or had intentionally neglected to take his medication in order to increase his visible symptoms.  Fox has responded saying there is “no time” in which he is not medicated. He said, “If bringing the message means the messenger gets roughed up a little bit, I’m happy to be that guy.”  He told Katie Couric, “We all have a right to fight for what we believe in and I believe that science should move forward in this country.” He asked, “Why are we not trusting our own morality as a nation, our own sense of ethics to oversee this and do the right thing.”  When Couric asks, “What about research on adult stem cells.” Fox responds, “It’s fantastic.”  Referring to living human embryos stored in IVF clinics as being only “cells” Fox says, “The point of it is that the cells that we’re not using, they’re being wasted. Hundreds of thousands of cells that are left over from in vitro fertilization are being thrown away. They’re not going to become life…so people say they’re protecting the unborn, but they’re going to be destroyed anyway. So let’s use those cells to protect the unborn that are going to be born with diabetes…”“That’s the pro-life position. Those cells are going to be wasted.”  Fox goes on to make a crucial point that only some in the pro-life community have been trying to make for years. “Where was the outcry when in vitro fertilization was started twenty years ago? Because this has been going on for twenty years. Hundreds and thousands of these cells have been destroyed every year”  The problem of in vitro for the pro-life movement has been an enormous stumbling block for the fight against embryo research and cloning, even from the Catholic front. Despite a definitive document from Rome dating to 1986, the Catholic Church has failed on the ground level to significantly oppose IVF. Most Catholics are not even aware that their Church opposes it.   Since his retirement from acting, Michael J. Fox has campaigned for embryonic research, including cloning,. He has established a hugely successful fundraising foundation in the hope of obtaining a cure for Parkinson’s. To date, however, there has been no sign that using embryos for research is likely to provide cures for any disease.   Most researchers and private investors in biotechnology companies acknowledge thatÂserious progress isÂresulting only fromÂnon-destructive, ethicalÂÂresearch withÂadult stem cells, those derived from a patient’s own bone marrow and other sources.  Clare McCaskill , the candidate Fox is supporting for the Senate supports embryonic stem cell research, is a Catholic who attends St. Joseph Catholic Church in Jefferson City and St. Gerard Majella Catholic Church in St. Louis.ÂThe Catholic Church strongly opposes embryonic research.  View Michael J. Fox ad for McCaskill:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9WB_PXjTBo  Related coverage:  Actor Jim Caviezel Battles Michael J. Fox on Embryonic Stem Cell Video Adshttp://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2006/oct/06102501.htmlSee extensive LifeSiteNews.com coverage of in-vitro:

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