Sen. Bill Frist’s turnaround on embryonic stem cell research could come back to haunt him if he aspires to the presidency, S.C. conservatives said Friday.That’s because a position that draws rave reviews from the likes of Democratic Sen. Edward Kennedy is liable to generate the opposite reaction in conservative-leaning Republicans who vote in the state’s primary elections, said Oran P. Smith, president of the Palmetto Family Council.
“We’re disappointed to hear that he has taken this position. ... We want to defend a culture of life,” Smith said. “We feel that destruction of embryos is destruction of life.”
Frist — who logged visits to South Carolina in May and June — seems to be flouting the GOP tradition of waging a conservative campaign early and moving to the center later, Smith said.
“First, he has to be nominated,” Smith said. “I think he has harmed himself with perhaps a larger group than he realizes.”
Holly Gatling, who heads South Carolina Citizens for Life, said her group supports medical research using stem cells from adults and from umbilical cord blood.
But in embryonic stem cell research, “a human life is destroyed for lethal medical experimentation that’s not promising,” she said. “Senator Frist is simply wrong.”
Gatling said it’s early to assess Frist’s chances as a presidential candidate but that his new position on stem cell research will raise questions among S.C. conservatives.
“The question I would ask him is, when does he believe that killing an innocent human life is not wrong?”
— Linda H. Lamb
