The President vetoed a bill passed by Congress that would have allowed federal funding to destroy viable human embryos for research purposes.  Additionally, President Bush issued an executive order directing the National Institutes of Health to explore alternative and ethically acceptable means for obtaining human stem cells from sources other than destroyed embryos.  It would appear that Congress lacks the votes to override the Presidential veto.

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Washington State Catholic Conference are opposed to human embryonic stem cell research because it entails the destruction of human embryos.  Moreover, current medical treatments derived from research on adult stem cells and recent discoveries with stem cells acquired from cord blood render unnecessary the immoral and unethical act of killing embryos.