Stem cell research is headline news. Researchers are eager to move forward, state governments and private foundations are rushing to support it, and the sick and afflicted are desperate for its benefits. Yet powerful forces in our society -- led by President George W. Bush -- find it morally troubling and they are doing all in their powers to restrict its development beyond a very limited scale.
Stem cells, which have the remarkable potential to develop into different parts of the body, are actually harvested from aborted fetal tissue or newly fertilized cells. Proponents of stem cell...