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The poles about polls

I frequently see commentary from either pro-lifers or pro-deathers focused on why something should or should not be legal and the view is usually based on polling data. There are "exit polls" and even a poll taken when Pope John Paul II passed away that asked how Americans felt about what kind of pope the Catholic Church should have – as if that mattered. And now there are warring polls on the topic of human embryonic stem cell research.

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops is stating that Congress "should not be misled on this important issue" because "most Americans oppose federal funding of research which requires destroying human embryos." I stopped and thought about that, and after my usual "hmmmmm" a little digging seemed in order. Why?

Because not all polls are equal, not all polls are scientific and not all polls come up with the result quoted above. In fact California residents, New Jersey residents and Massachusetts residents have all quite recently said they not only support this grotesque research but think more money should be spent on it.

But I say, so what! An elected official should not take a position based on what some bureacrat says about poll A or poll B or poll X. The point is, it should not be legal to kill innocent human beings so that their stem cells can be taken and used for some other purpose. Period, end of story. If the people of this nation are poles apart on this then there's only one answer: stop the killing and clear up the confusion later.