“Science and Stem Cells: The Right Wing Assault on Reason.” By Diana DeGette. The Lyons Press. 248 pp. $24.95.
U.S. Rep Diana DeGette of Colorado, serving her seventh term in the House, was appointed Vice Chair of the powerful Committee on Energy and Commerce, which oversees health care and consumer protection.
Her determination to write this chronicle evolved from her realization that the Religious Right has hijacked the public policy of the U.S. and politicized sex and science, with both coming out as losers. Reams have been written about how fundamentalists continuously erode the wall of separation between church and state.
But Ms. DeGrette offers a fresh perspective when she labels their campaigns as an open assault on reason.
Congress has a predominance of lawyers and few scientists, and therefore most lawmakers have only a minimal background in science.
They are unable to easily discern how politicians distort science to their own advantage and to that of their supporters and allies. For example, early in Ms. DeGrette’s political career, she was completely dumbfounded to learn most opponents of legal abortion also condemn family planning despite its proven track record in reducing the need for the termination of pregnancies.
Colorado was the first pre-Roe state to adopt liberal abortion laws. When Ms. DeGrette co-sponsored a bill requiring at least eight feet of separation between protesters outside abortion clinics and those seeking access, it was, amazingly, the first such bill to be introduced anywhere.
Getting Personal
Not only was she demonized for her pro-choice position, but never in her dreams could she have imagined protesters picketing outside her home with signs as big as billboards chanting in unison through megaphones, “Stop killing babies, Diana.”
Ms. DeGrette’s pro-choice stance was vindicated after she introduced the legislation on a federal level and it was upheld by the Supreme Court with a resounding 6 to 3 decision.
The schism between science and politics is intensely exacerbated when religion enters the picture.
It enters with particular vehemence on the topic of human sexuality in general and abstinence-only sex education in particular. As of 2007, $1.5 billion had been allocated for abstinence-only sex ed, which has been proven not only to be completely ineffectual but has done more harm than good to our country's teenagers. The author speculates how that vast sum earmarked for unrealistic sex ed could much more profitably been spent on computer labs, textbooks and supplies or on other health and welfare programs that work.
As unconscionable as it was for former President Bush to veto twice legislation promoting stem cell research so desperately needed by scientists in combating the ravages of chronic diseases, it was even more lamentable that Dubya formulated such a blatantly political response only to appease the opposition from the Religious Right.
Ms. DeGrette was the chief architect of that defeated bill.
She cites numerous examples from the Congressional Record to document the attempts by religiously-motivated lawmakers to muddy the waters on such vital hot-button issues as condoms for HIV-Aids patients, abortions and emergency contraception for U.S. servicewomen in military hospitals, the distinction between contraceptives and abortifacients and the very real difference between post-partum depression (a serious and genuine medical condition) and so-called post-abortion depression (a term invented by right-to-lifers to describe an imaginary, non-existent and non-medical condition) to discourage women seeking abortions.
Informative and compelling, this narrative provides the additional benefit of offering an insightful insider's look at how the legislative branch of our government really works. For concerned civil libertarians, it qualifies as a must-read.
Mr. Akerley may be contacted at benakerley@aol.com
