[JURIST] President George W. Bush will sign off on a bill providing funding for studies on embryos incapable of further development, but will refuse to endorse legislation that would subsidize stem cell research [JURIST news archive], the White House announced Tuesday. The administration said in a formal policy statement [PDF] sent to Congress that Bush would veto the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act of 2007 [S.5 materials] because the law would "pay for research that relies on the intentional destruction of human embryos." The White House also said, however, that Bush would support [policy statement, PDF] the HOPE Act [S.30 materials] because it would provide funding for research into pluripotent stem cells that does not entail the destruction of embryos.

In July, Bush vetoed [JURIST report] the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act of 2005 [PDF text; HR 810 summary] saying he refused to provide federal funding for stem cell research because many people consider the destruction of embryos murder [press briefing]. Simultaneously, Bush signed the Fetus Farming Prohibition Act [text; S 3504 summary], intended to prohibit "fetal farming," the method of creating fetuses for the sole purpose of research, after both the House and Senate passed the bill unanimously. AP has more.