The Medical Charities Dilemma

Details: 04 November 2011

My office is frequently contacted by Catholic individuals, parishes or groups asking about the funding policies of various medical charities. These conscientious individuals and groups want to know if a charity funds immoral research before they agree to donate to that group. These requests are particularly frequent this time of year when there are significant fundraising events taking place

These regular inquiries prompted me some years ago to do my own inquiry into the funding and advocacy policies of several major medical charities. In some cases, a simple query of a group’s website provided clear information on its policies. In other cases, a letter was sent to the charity.

What I found is that many of the major medical charities have some morally problematic policy and/or practice. The most common is funding or lobbying for human embryonic stem cell research. Unfortunately, this creates a dilemma for those who want to support medical research without funding immoral practices. The charities I found to have problematic policies and/or practices are:

ALS Association(Lou Gehrig’s disease), American Association for Cancer Research, American Diabetes Association, American Lung Association, Glaucoma Research Foundation, Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, March of Dimes, Muscular Dystrophy Association, National Hemophilia Foundation, National Multiple Sclerosis Society, National Spinal Cord Injury Association, Parkinson’s Action Network, Parkinson’s Disease Foundation, The Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.

The following charities indicate that they do not fund or advocate for embryonic stem cell research: Alzheimer’s Association, American Cancer Society. American Heart Association, Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, National Kidney Foundation.

The actual policies/positions of these groups and the link or citation for them are posted on my website at www.nebcathcon.org (click on "Pro Life" and then "Medical Charities Survey"). A hard copy of this list with citations can also be obtained from my office.

In providing this information, I am always quick to qualify it as a first step in the process of determining whether to support a charity or not. Policies can and do change. Consequently, I urge those who request this information to ask the charity to confirm or refute my information before making a decision on whether to donate.

In my questioning of charities, I look for their policy on funding and on advocating for human embryonic stem cell research. Both policies are important because our donations could be used to directly fund immoral research or to lobby our elected officials to use our tax dollars to fund it.

In my experience contacting charities, I’ve also found it important to request the official, published policies produced by the national office. In some cases, I have received different answers from representatives at different levels of the organization.

I’m pleased to say that there are some research enterprises that are specifically committed to only conducting or funding ethical stem cell research. For example, the John Paul II Stem Cell Research Institute (www.jp2sri.org) is a non-profit research institute whose mission is to advance research and education on stem cell research in a manner consistent with pro-life bioethics. The Institute strictly focuses on adult and cord blood stem cell research and education.

The Thomas Hartman Foundation for Parkinson’s Research(www.hartmanfoundation.org) was founded by Father Tom Hartman who is co-host, along with Rabbi Marc Gellman, of radio and TV’s popular "God Squad." Father Hartman has Parkinson’s disease which led him to establish this foundation, which excludes any funding for human embryonic stem cell research and supports research using adult stem cells to treat Parkinson’s.

My summary of medical charities policies also includes information on a couple of other ethical research projects focused on spinal cord injuries, juvenile diabetes and auto-immune disorders. In addition, a list of diseases that adult stem cells have treated with some level of success in humans is available (with citations) at www.stemcellresearch.org and www.stemcellresearchfacts.org.

You can contact Greg at The Nebraska Catholic Conference, 215 Centennial Mall South Suite 310, Lincoln, NE 68508; This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.