Washington, DC – Congressman Todd Akin (R-MO) has released the following statement regarding President Obama’s decision to issue an executive order to allow federal funding for scientific research that requires the destruction of human embryos:

"The decision to bypass Congress and issue an executive order that allows federal funding for a mode of research that many Americans have strong moral and ethical objections to is a disappointing and divisive course of action.

"The fact that non-embryonic stem cell research is producing superior results makes the decision to issue such an executive order appear more politically than scientifically significant.

"A great number of Americans, including myself, do not believe that it is acceptable to create life for the purpose of destroying it. While many do not agree with that viewpoint, it is a question so morally and ethically central to our nation that it deserves to be fully and openly debated in Congress rather than decided by executive order."