House Defies Bush On Stem Cells

GOP-Led House Passes Bill To Loosen Stem Cell Research

(CBS/AP)  Ignoring President Bush's veto threat, the House voted Tuesday to lift limits on embryonic stem cell research, a measure supporters said could accelerate cures for diseases but opponents viewed as akin to abortion.

President Bush called the bill a mistake and said he would veto it. The House approved it by a 238-194 vote, far short of the two-thirds majority that would be needed to override a veto.

"This bill would take us across a critical ethical line by creating new incentives for the ongoing destruction of emerging human life," the president said Tuesday. "Crossing this line would be a great mistake."

To dramatize his stand, Mr. Bush appeared at the White House with families who had children born from donor embryos, reports CBS News Correspondent John Roberts.

"In the complex debate over embryonic stem cell research, we must remember that real human lives are involved – both the lives of those with diseases that might find cures from this research and the embryos that will be destroyed in the process," Mr. Bush said, his remarks punctuated by the crying of babies and children that echoed through the East Room.

"The children here today remind us that there is no such thing as a spare embryo. ... These lives are not raw material to be exploited, but gifts."

An alternative offered by Republican leaders that would fund research using stem cells derived from adults and umbilical cords rather than from embryos, passed 430-1, with Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, the lone opponent. But the focus was on the embryo bill.

A majority of Americans approve of using embryonic stem cells in medical studies, according to a CBS News poll. Fifty-eight percent say they support stem cell research, while 31 percent disapprove.

Approval is higher now than it was last August; then, 50 percent approved and 31percent disapproved, but 19 percent had no opinion.

Republicans are less likely than Democrats to approve of it, although half do. Approval of stem cell research among Republicans has risen significantly since last year; then, 37 percent approved of it, now 50 percent do. Approval has risen among Democrats as well, although less dramatically, from 57 to 65 percent now.

CBS News Correspondent Elizabeth Kaledin notes that while the stem cell debate has intensified in this country, the actual research on embryonic stem cells to treat disease is moving ahead in other countries. Known as "stem cell refugees," hundreds of top American scientists have left the U.S. to work on research overseas.