On August 19, 2009, a lawsuit was filed in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services which seeks to “enjoin and overturn” the controversial guidelines for public funding of embryonic stem cell research issued by the National Institutes of Health on July 7, 2009.
According to the plaintiffs, the NIH Guidelines released on July 7, 2009 “authorize public funding of research that depends upon and, indeed, requires the destruction of living human embryos.” The complaint contends that such research violates the Dickey-Wicker Amendment, which prohibited the use of federal monies to fund research in which embryos are destroyed or knowingly subjected to harm in 1995.
According to ChristianNewsWire, the suit is brought by a broad coalition of plaintiffs, including Dr. James L. Sherley, a former member of the MIT faculty, currently working as a senior scientist at the Boston Biomedical Research Institute; Dr. Theresa Deisher, the founder, managing member, and research and development director of AVM Biotechnology; Nightlight Christian Adoptions, a non-profit, licensed adoption agency dedicated to protecting and finding adoptive parents for human embryos conceived through in vitro fertilization; all individual human embryos whose lives are now at risk under NIH’s guidelines; parents seeking to adopt human embryos; and the Christian Medical Association, a non-profit association of doctors dedicated to improving ethical standards of health care in the United States and abroad.
The Alliance Defense Fund, a legal alliance of Christian attorneys and like-minded organizations defending religious freedom and the sanctity of human life, is also serving as co-counsel on the case and providing financial support.
The Defendants are Kathleen Sebe-lius, in her official capacity as Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, HHS, Dr. Francis S. Collins, in his official capacity as Director of the National Institutes of Health, and the NIH.
A copy of the complaint can be obtained by clicking here.