mr. speaker , i thank the majority leader for yielding me this time . 
mr. speaker , i rise today in respectful opposition to this sincerely conceived , but ill-founded , legislation known as castle-degette , a bill that authorizes the use of federal tax dollars to fund the destruction of human embryos for scientific research . 
as we begin this debate , i am confident we will hear the supporters of this bill argue in the name of president ronald reagan , that somehow this research is consistent with his long-held views on the sanctity of life . 
but it was ronald reagan who wrote : `` we can not diminish the value of one category of human , the unborn , without diminishing the value of all human life. '' the supporters will also argue that this is a debate between science and ideology , that destroying human embryos for research is necessary to cure a whole host of maladies , from spinal cord injuries to parkinson 's . 
but the facts suggest otherwise . 
as members will hear to date , embryonic stem cell research has not produced a single medical treatment , where ethical adult cell research has produced some 67 medical miracles . 
physicians on our side of the aisle will make the case for the ethical alternative of adult stem cell research , and congress today has already voted to greatly expand funding in this area . 
but the debate over the legitimacy or the potential of embryonic stem cell research is actually not the point of this debate . 
we are here simply to decide whether congress should take the taxpayer dollars of millions of pro-life americans and use them to fund the destruction of human embryos for research . 
this debate is really not about whether embryonic stem cell research should be legal . 
sadly , embryonic stem cell research is completely legal in this country and has been going on at universities and research facilities for years . 
the proponents of this legislation do not just want to be able to do embryonic stem cell research . 
they want me to pay for it . 
and like 43 percent of the american people in a survey just out today , i have a problem with that . 
you see , i believe that life begins at conception and that a human embryo is human life . 
i believe it is morally wrong to create human life to destroy it for research , and i further believe it is morally wrong to take the tax dollars of millions of pro-life americans who believe , as i do , that human life is sacred , and use it to fund the destruction of human embryos for research . 
this debate then is not really about what an embryo is . 
this debate is about who we are as a nation , not will we respect the sanctity of life , but will we respect the deeply held moral beliefs of nearly half of the people of this nation who find the destruction of human embryos for scientific research to be morally wrong . 
despite what is uttered in this debate today , i say again , this debate is not about whether we should allow research . 
this debate is not about whether we should allow research that involves the destruction of human embryos . 
this debate is about who pays for it , and it is my fervent hope and prayer as we stand at this crossroads between science and the sanctity of life that we will choose life . 
this morning on capitol hill i was surrounded by dozens of `` snowflake babies , '' some 81 children who were born from frozen embryos , the throw-away material we will hear about today . 
as i spoke over the cries and cooing of those little fragile lives , i could not help but think of the ancient text : `` i have set before you life and earth , blessings and curses , now choose life so that you and your children may live. '' let this congress choose life and reject federal funding for the destruction of human embryos for research . 
