Regents' meeting picketed

LINCOLN -- Anti-abortion protesters picketed the NU Board of Regents meeting Friday, calling for University leaders to forbid expanded embryonic stem cell research at NU facilities.

A small group of protesters, about 10, stood along Holdrege Streeet during a damp, chilly morning. The first picketers arrived at Varner Hall on the University of Nebraska-Lincoln's East Campus four hours before the Board of Regents was to take up the issue. More expected to arrive later in the day, said Julie Schmit-Albin, executive director for Nebraska Right to Life.

Later Friday, opponents of the embryonic research were to make their case to the regents during a public comment portion of the board's regular meeting. Anti-abortion groups have been urging the regents to act ever since the Obama administration approved new regulations earlier this year expected to make available more lines of embryonic stem cells for federally funded research.

University policy has been to follow federal guidelines on the research.

Those who support the research, including members of the Nebraska Coalition for Lifesaving Cures, planned to argue for expanded research during the same public comment period. Sanford Goodman, president of the coalition, said research supporters had no plans to picket the meeting.

The regents are not expected to make a decision Friday, but have set aside time to discuss the issue,

The anti-abortion picketers came from Omaha, the Lincoln area and Plattsmouth. They said they came early because of their deep concern about the morality of embryonic stem cell research.

Denny Hartford, 58, who works for Vital Signs Ministry in Omaha, likened embryonic stem cell research to Nazi experimentation on human beings.

"We can't progress in a humane way with this kind of research, where we manipulate and exploit human life," he said.

Athena Meneses of Plattsmouth, 33, home schools her four children. She said she came to the meeting to be a good example to her children. "I'm going to stand for things I believe in -- and this is something I believe in," she said.

Research supporters have said such research can be conducted ethically, using excess embryos created for in vitro fertilization that would otherwise be discarded. Researchers use stem cells to study the causes and develop cures for ailments like Alzheimer's Disease, Parkinson's Disease and spinal cord injuries. While some research can be done without embryos, the embryonic cells are needed for other forms of study.

Research supporters also have said blocking the expansion of research would seriously harm NU's reputation as a research facility.