The Beginning of Human Life: Some Praise Charlie's "Bait and Switch"

Jack Sisson's The Beginning of Human Life Blog

Many people believe human life begins at conception. Others acknowledge life at conception, but differ about when that life becomes human (versus an indistinguishable mass of cells). We hope to both start and then further dialogue regarding the beginning of human life. We have been preparing for this discussion since 1986.

I'm sure there are many Floridians not bothered at all by Charlie Crist's complete 180-degree turn around on embryonic stem-cell research. During his campaign for governor, Crist argued in favor of stem-cell research using embryos scheduled to be destroyed, and even went so far as to criticize President Bush for vetoing the bill that would have expanded federal funding to include such research.

What happened in the intervening months to change Crist's mind? Or did he change it at all? Knowing that the majority of Americans, including Floridians, favor embryonic stem-cell research, was Crist merely courting votes with his public stance? I wonder how many votes were influenced by the stem-cell issue? It's always troubling when a politician doesn't follow through on campaign promises, but it's particularly maddening when one completely reverses himself, as in this case.

Oh well, there's always someone on the other side grateful for the switch.

Labels: Crist, embryonic, stem cell, stem-cell