58 
Ethical and Policy Developments 
n. THE MORAL AIMS OF POLICY 
A significant part of the public debate surrounding the pol- 
icy governing funding of embryonic stem cell research has in- 
volved differing views of just which purposes or ideals should 
most directly guide policymakers in this arena. The current 
funding policy — ^while it appears to strike some balance be- 
tween protecting human embryos and advancing biomedical 
research — seems to take as its overriding concern the insis- 
tence that the federal government not encourage or support 
the deliberate violation or destruction of human embryos. But a 
number of commentators in recent years — and, of course, par- 
ticularly those who ascribe lesser moral status to human em- 
bryos — have proposed alternative principles to govern policy. 
A The Importance of Relieving Suffering 
Many observers argue that the proper governing principle 
should be the duty to relieve the pain and suffering of others — 
the purpose that ultimately motivates the work of biomedical 
science. This aim is broadly, perhaps universally, shared. In- 
deed, the current policy, as outlined by its advocates, while it 
seeks to protect nascent human life, explicitly seeks to ad- 
vance medical research as far as its authors believe is morally 
permissible. Some commentators argue, however, that the 
administration has chosen the wrong one of these aims as the 
governing principle of its approach. 
The cause of curing disease has a human face, the face of a 
loved one or neighbor, bent under the suffering of an incom- 
pletely understood or treated disease. As a result, the aspira- 
tion to know is linked to a desire to relieve. How, wonder many 
commentators, could anyone think of withholding support for 
research that might yield therapies for devastating diseases 
and conditions such as spinal cord injury, diabetes, and Park- 
inson disease?^® Surely, they argue, the pain and suffering of 
those in need should outweigh concerns for human embryos 
frozen in a laboratory. Indeed, for many this is an especially 
critical issue in light of the likely ultimate fate of these em- 
bryos. Will they be frozen indefinitely? If not, then will they be 
PRE-PUBLICATION VERSION 
