Michigan Republican Congressman Vernon Ehlers, a Christian conservative, wants to make sure the ban on embryo research is permanent. There's a great body of belief in this country that the creation of a human being occurs at the time of fertilization of the egg. And that you are dealing with something special, something sacred, and there should not be experimentation. Embryo research is not against the law. Bioethicists who support embryo research, like University of Minnesota Law Professor Susan Wolf, say human embryos deserve special respect, but the age of the embryo is the key.
Some people use the word pre-embryo.
It's certainly entitled to heightened respect, but it's not at all even a unique individual, it could become two individuals, so there is this zone where we tolerate a certain amount of research. The main organization representing infertility specialists, the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, wants the NIH to fund embryo research and generally welcomes the intense scientific scrutiny for which the NIH is famous. Sean Tipton is the medical groups' lobbyist. He says the 24-year ban has harmed infertile people by slowing the advance of reproductive science. Treatments used today are imperfect.