From a reader named Joyce Kelly:

"I just read your article Stem Cell Ideology Trumps Reason on an MS website.  You see my husband and his sister both have MS.   I would like to hear and read this comment more often: "If you don't believe that discarded embryos should be used for stem cell research then you should not support In-Vetro Fertilization." How can these individuals support In-Vetro Fertilization when leftover embryos are eventually discarded?  What hypocrites.  Or don't they realize what they are saying?  I don't hear this comment enough in articles or on the news.  A teacher who works with my daughter said she doesn't support embryonic stem cell research because 'they kill babies.'  People just don't know."

Actually, Joyce, judging from the e-mails I've received the last three days, I'm surprised we don't hear or see more right-to-lifers raiding IVF clinics to save "leftover" frozen embryos. Please recall that there was a huge fight in this country -- very similiar to the one we have now -- over IVF when it first emerged as a scientific advance. You might further note that more than 60 percent of Americans -- and a higher percentage in Maryland -- say they support research into stem cell therapies.