Anthony Cardinal Bevilacqua, Archbishop of Philadelphia, has written letters to federal lawmakers and the National Institutes for Health asking them not to approve guidelines that would legalize embryo stem cell research. On December 1, 1999, the National Institutes for Health published draft guidelines that would legalize embryo stem cell research. The public has until January 31, 2000, to submit written comments. The National Institutes for Health will then finalize its guidelines. Congress has the authority to intervene before the guidelines become finalized. Cardinal Bevilacqua sent letters to National Institutes of Health Director Dr. Harold Varmus, United States Senators Arlen Specter and Rick Santorum and the nine United States Representatives that represent different areas of the Archdiocese.

"These guidelines disregard the sanctity of life by sanctioning the killing of unborn human embryos to obtain stem cells for research," wrote Cardinal Bevilacqua. "This assault on life must not happen. Scientific research should be guided by a fundamental moral norm: respect for the dignity of life from conception (fertilization) to natural death."

Cardinal Bevilacqua supports adult stem cell research, but opposes the killing of unborn embryos for stem cell research. In his letters to the lawmakers and the National Institutes for Health, Cardinal Bevilacqua pointed out that "research has demonstrated that adults stem cells can be as effective, or even more effective than, embryo stem cells because adult stem cells do not carry the risk of rejection."

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