9News quotes CRTL on Embryonic Stem Cells

Colorado’s NBC affiliate reported: “Colorado Right To Life urges scientists to use stem cells from umbilical cords and to stop harvesting parts from children, because it is wrong to kill the littlest boys and girls to treat others,” said the group’s vice president Leslie Hanks. (see video) CRTL also told 9News: “Adult stem cells have proved superior to embryonic cells, and it would be tragic if Kasie Burtard (see below) is getting inferior treatment just to make a statement about the ‘right’ to kill the tiniest persons.”

From the 9News 5/6/08 report: Going across the globe to take a few steps

“Growing up on a ranch outside Carbondale, 26-year-old Kasie Burtard spent many days on horseback under wide open skies. … It was a western lifestyle and way of life that, for Burtard, slipped away six years ago after a car accident on a rural road left her paralyzed from the waist down. … Doctors told Burtard she would never walk again… That meant this woman of the West would look to the East for a controversial medical procedure in India. Burtard started to look into embryonic stem cell therapy, using cells from a single fertilized egg to try and rebuild the damage in her spinal cord. Because the procedure uses an embryo, it’s illegal in the United States, opposed by many lawmakers and religious groups.

“Colorado Right to Life Vice President Leslie Hanks says there are other ways to benefit from stem cells without using embryos. ‘The group urges scientists to use stem cells from umbilical cords and to stop harvesting parts from children, because it is wrong to kill the littlest boys and girls to treat others.’

“Burtard says… ‘I was there for two months and after the fourth day of just stem cells I saw results. I was able to wriggle a toe which I wasn’t able to do in six years…’ That was just the beginning. After weeks of work Burtard says, with some leg support, she could stand up moving her legs from side to side…” (see 9News for more)