WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate has approved and sent to President Bush a bill that would allow federal funding of embryonic stem cell research. The president opposes the measure on moral grounds, and is expected to veto it as early as Wednesday. The Senate passed the legislation on a 63 to 37 vote, with broad bipartisan support. Supporters say such research is key to medical advances, and that only donated embryos that would otherwise be thrown away would be used. ‘There are some 400-thousand frozen embryos, and the choice is discarding them or using them to save lives. Embryonic stem cells have the flexibility for the potential of curing Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, heart disease and cancer,’ said Senator Arlen Specter, a Pennsylvania Republican. But opponents, mostly those who make up the conservative base of the Republican party, argue such research amounts to taking human life because embryos are destroyed in the process. Senator Sam Brownback, a Kansas Republican, wants donated embryos to be adopted by infertile couples. ‘We have a lot of frozen embryos and we are saying ‘let’s make some utility out of them’. Isn’t that against human dignity to say ‘let’s research on this,’ when […]