Nita Lowey: “many of us have lost friends and family members to breast cancer, muscular dystrophy, leukemia, and so many other…”

“many of us have lost friends and family members to breast cancer, muscular dystrophy, leukemia, and so many other diseases. We have shared their pain, we have shared their heartache. I want to make it very clear: We are not talking about creating embryos. Many of us have friends and families who have been through a procedure of in vitro fertilization with the hopes of having a beautiful child. We are talking about embryos, cells, four live cells no larger than a pin. These cells have been created as part of the process of couples wanting to have a child. These couples then have to make a decision as to whether they discard these embryos or whether they want to give some other family the hope of life. That is what this is all about, allowing these embryos, these cells to be used to save another life. I just received a call today from a family hoping that perhaps this will be the answer. I heard from my colleagues, my distinguished colleagues, that there has been no research that has been successful. I have lost many family members to breast cancer. Mr. Chairman, we have spent millions and billions on trying to solve that problem. Do we say, well, we have not solved the problem, so we just give up? Yes, we have made important advances, and I am hoping that perhaps there will be a great breakthrough in other illness because of this research.”