mr. speaker , i rise today to say that i will be casting my vote for h.r. 810 , the stem cell research enhancement act of 2005 . 
i am voting for this legislation with the face of ashley dahly on my mind . 
ashley is a 17-year-old high school junior from devils lake , north dakota . 
she is a happy teenager with an adoring family . 
she likes school , enjoys student congress and speech class , and loves ice skating . 
ashley also has juvenile diabetes . 
in fact , today she is at home missing her finals because of high blood sugars . 
ashley is north dakota 's delegate for children 's congress through the juvenile diabetes research foundation , taking place here in washington on june 18-22nd . 
ashley 's goal is to enter a health-related field such as a nurse or diabetes educator , because as ashley has said , `` i know the pain that children diagnosed with diabetes go through , and i think i could help in relieving that pain. '' there is currently no cure for juvenile diabetes , a disease that affects another child every hour of every day . 
embryonic stem cell research offers great potential for advancing treatments or even curing diabetes , as well as many other diseases such as parkinson 's disease , cancer , als , paralysis and others . 
particularly in the case of diabetes , embryonic stem cell research holds the greatest possibility for understanding and curing this disease , since adult stem cells are not present in the pancreas , the organ attacked by diabetes . 
embryonic stem cell research is an extremely difficult issue , involving the potential for critical medical breakthroughs on the one hand , and very complex bio-ethical issues on the other . 
the bill requires that research only be conducted on stem cells derived from embryos created for fertility treatments that were in excess of the need of the mother and would otherwise have been destroyed . 
my vote today is supported by over 200 major patient groups , scientists , and medical research groups , and i believe that my vote can provide hope to families in north dakota like ashley 's who are suffering through the illness of a loved one . 
