President Bush in his State of the Union speech on Wednesday pledged to support a "culture of life" in his second term and called for a ban on creating embryos for experimentation, the San Diego Union-Tribune reports (Lewis, San Diego Union-Tribune, 2/3). Bush said he wants to "work with Congress to ensure that human embryos are not created for experimentation or grown for body parts," according to the New York Times (Stevenson/Sanger, New York Times, 2/3). However, he "sidestepped" the issue of federal funding for human embryonic stem cell research by addressing the "much less controversial" issue of banning the creation of embryos exclusively for scientific research, according to the Boston Globe (Canellos, Boston Globe, 2/3). Bush's embryonic stem cell policy -- which he announced on Aug. 9, 2001 -- limits federally funded embryonic stem cell research to stem cell lines created on or before that date (Kaiser Daily Reproductive Health Report, 1/27).

A video of Bush's speech, including an excerpt of his comments on medical ethics and research, is available online. A video of the Democratic response and the complete transcript of the State of the Union also are available online.