An antiabortion group backs U.S. Senate candidates Mel Martinez and Johnnie Byrd.
By STEVE BOUSQUET
Published July 20, 2004
TALLAHASSEE - A growing divide within the Republican Party over the use of federal funds for stem cell research was highlighted in an endorsement in the U.S. Senate race Monday by a national antiabortion group.
The National Right to Life Committee endorsed Mel Martinez and Johnnie Byrd and expressed disappointment in the candidate it endorsed four years ago, former U.S. Rep. Bill McCollum.
The organization, which calls itself the nation's largest single-issue, pro-life group, called Martinez and Byrd "solidly pro-life."
Byrd and Martinez agree with President Bush, who in 2001 ordered sharply curtailed use of federal funds for embryonic stem cell research.
The group is disappointed with McCollum's stand, said Carol Tobias, the group's political director.
"We are very unhappy with the recent decision that he made to support stem cell research using stem cells from human embryos," Tobias said. "That really is a position that we find unacceptable."
Antiabortion groups oppose harvesting cells from embryos, saying the practice is the destruction of human life. But some leading Republicans, including Nancy Reagan, say the potential for medical breakthroughs outweighs any harm.
McCollum and Republican Senate candidate Doug Gallagher call themselves pro-life. Both support expanded stem cell research, as do all three major Democratic Senate candidates.
McCollum, who calls himself a product of the Reagan revolution, said he agrees with Nancy Reagan that the policy should be modified to seek cures for Alzheimer's and other life-threatening diseases.
"I am pro-life," McCollum said in a carefully worded statement last month. "But I also believe that a critical part of being pro-life is helping the living."
McCollum aligned himself with U.S. Sens. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and Trent Lott, R-Miss., as well as former Sen. Connie Mack, who chairs McCollum's Senate campaign, as conservatives who support expanding stem cell research.
As a member of Congress, McCollum got perfect scores from the National Right to Life Committee, which endorsed him when he ran for the Senate in 2000.
But criticism of McCollum's stands concerns some supporters. Pat Neal, a leader of the Christian Coalition in Florida, recently circulated a letter defending McCollum as "a pro-life, pro-family, pro-Ronald Reagan Republican."
Gallagher, who lost a brother to diabetes in 1974, issued a statement Monday saying he supports stem cell research "only in cases when aborted fetuses are not being used." He criticized the Right to Life Committee's "lack of objective analysis," and said he was never contacted by the organization.
The issue gained increased attention after President Reagan died last month. His son, Ron, will address the Democratic National Convention next week with a call for expanded stem cell research.
Martinez's campaign is expected to emphasize the endorsement to Christian conservatives. He issued a statement Monday that noted the group "refuses to endorse McCollum or Gallagher" and accuses McCollum of having "retreated from his previously held pro-life position."
Martinez also cited his stand on stem cell research as another example of how his philosophy is similar to the president's.
"It's a very difficult issue," Martinez said. "But the bottom line is that when you believe in life, the destruction of one human life is never acceptable. That's a position, frankly, that I believe must be consistently held."
Four other Republicans are seeking the party's nomination: lawyers Larry Klayman and Sonya March, real estate agent William Kogut and investor Karen Saull.
