WASHINGTON (ChurchMilitant.com) - Members of the U.S. Congress are asking President Trump to remove the head of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Obama administration holdover, Dr. Francis Collins.

Forty-one, pro-life members of Congress signed a letter to Trump, asking him to replace Collins due to the "troubling paradox" that he opposes the pro-life direction of the Trump presidency by supporting embryonic stem cell research and human cloning.

The letter further notes that Collins is "a remnant" of the Obama administration, having served as his advisor in the 2008 presidential campaign and was appointed director of the NIH by Obama in 2009.

Collins, despite claiming to be a "devout" evangelical Christian, advocated taxpayer funding of fetal stem cell research on his first day as NIH director.

He advocated for Obama's 2009 executive order, which directed taxpayer funding towards a registry of embryonic stem cells "harvested through the destruction of human embryos." The letter asserts, "It is solely through Dr. Collins' authority that such a registry exists, and under his leadership, research on these human embryos is also currently eligible to receive funding through taxpayer dollars." It further discloses, "Indeed, he continues under your Administration to approve human embryonic stem cell lines, derived through the destruction of young human embryos for federal taxpayer funding."

The letter also notes that Collins fought against efforts in 2010 to ban the use of taxpayer funding for human embryonic stem cell research.

Collins has also supported human cloning, supporting the "clone and kill" process, adding that any ethical questions are negated because the embryos used to harvest stem cells were merely clones and did not have the same dignity of human persons.

The letter finishes by telling President Trump, "We believe the American people deserve a leader at this agency who is your appointment, whose principles align with your pro-life values and your new administration's policy goals." It continues, "The protection of human life and defense of the most vulnerable of our citizens are one of this nation's most fundamental values, and Dr. Collins' controversial research position runs counter to the pro-life principals of our Founding Fathers."

The Catholic Church teaches the harvesting of stem cells is moral only if it is taken from a person after birth such as from bone marrow or from cord blood, following the birth of a child. Fetal stem cells are harvested from 45 day old children.

The use of embryonic stem cells is also built on the foundation of another immoral act, also condemned by the Catholic Church, that of in vitro fertilization (IVF), where an egg is fertilized in a laboratory.

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Pro-Life Congressmen Ask Trump to Replace Head of NIH - Church Militant