Nancy Pelosi: “Please let us not have this body turn into the Flat Earth Society. Just when science sees a new horizon in research, a…”

“Please let us not have this body turn into the Flat Earth Society. Just when science sees a new horizon in research, a new era of discovery, this amendment wants us to stop and turn back. Let me say that I agree with our colleagues who say that we should not be involved in the creation of embryos for research. I completely agree with my colleagues on that score. But when embryos are created for in vitro fertilization and there is an opportunity to do research on the excess created there for that purpose, to produce a child, then we must, I think, take advantage of the opportunity presented to us. Early-stage embryos research can lead to important medical advances and prevention of loss of pregnancy, of infertility and diagnosis and treatment of genetic disease and prevention of birth defects and in treatment of childhood and other cancers as we study how cells multiply. I urge our colleagues to support the Lowey amendment and to support the advances in science as we approach a new century.”