Obama Executive Order Will fund Embryonic Stem Cell Research

Members of the team Barack Obama has put together confirmed over the weekend that the incoming president will immediately overturn executive orders President Bush put in place as soon as possible after he takes office. The Bush orders have protected taxpayers on key pro-life issues.

The advisors confirm the concerns pro-life advocates had during the presidential election campaign.

They indicated Obama would overturn a Bush policy that prevents forcing taxpayers to fund groups that perform or promote abortions in other countries. Known as the Mexico City Policy and first instituted during the Reagan administration, President Bush expanded the policy to make sure no State Department funding goes to the pro-abortion groups.

Obama would also overturn President Bush's policy against funding any new embryonic stem cell research.

Put in place in August 2001, the policy prevents taxpayers from paying for new embryonic research that involves the destruction of human life. Bush directed most of the public funding for the science to adult stem cells, which are more ethical and have proven more effective than their embryonic counterparts.

Embryonic stem cells, in addition to including the destruction of days-old unborn children, has yet to work in humans because of significant problems after they are injected into the body -- ranging from the growth of tumors to immune system rejection issues.

The Washington Post reports that the transition team members are working with top special interest groups and leading pro-abortion members of Congress on prioritizing the executive orders that Obama will reverse.

President Bill Clinton overturned the Mexico City Policy on his first day in office and the reports indicated Obama will too.

Cecile Richards, the president of Planned Parenthood, the nation's largest abortion business, told the Post that she expects Obama to rescind the protections on taxpayer-funded abortions and abortion counseling immediately after his inauguration.

"We have been communicating with his transition staff" almost daily, Richards said. "We expect to see a real change."

Transition advisers to President-elect Barack Obama have compiled a list of about 200 Bush administration actions and executive orders that could be swiftly undone to reverse White House policies on climate change, stem cell research, reproductive rights and other issues, according to congressional Democrats, campaign aides and experts working with the transition team.

A team of four dozen advisers, working for months in virtual solitude, set out to identify regulatory and policy changes Obama could implement soon after his inauguration. The team is now consulting with liberal advocacy groups, Capitol Hill staffers and potential agency chiefs to prioritize those they regard as the most onerous or ideologically offensive, said a top transition official who was not permitted to speak on the record about the inner workings of the transition.

In some instances, Obama would be quickly delivering on promises he made during his two-year campaign, while in others he would be embracing Clinton-era policies upended by President Bush during his eight years in office.