Like my own father, President Reagan lived for many years with, and died from, the terrible effects of Alzheimer’s disease. I watched helplessly as my father suffered, and my heart breaks for the Reagan family.

Stem cell research appears to hold our best hope for people who suffer from Alzheimer’s and a number of other illnesses. This is a personal issue, as I have several close relatives and good friends who have Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, spinal cord injuries or diabetes, and are in need of the benefits offered of this research. Besides Nancy Reagan, Sen. John Kerry and a majority of the Senate have asked President Bush to relax the restrictions he has placed on stem cell research.

Yet, according to the article, “Bush rebuffs pleas to relax stem cell policy,” (BDN, June 15) Bush has rejected those pleas.

Bush apparently sides with those on the religious right who somehow links stem cell research to the issue of abortion. Yet stem cells are routinely destroyed at fertility clinics, and Bush’s restriction on their use encourages the senseless waste of these cells.

My religious beliefs encourage me to choose life. Wouldn’t healing the sick enhance human life?

I cannot comprehend why Bush is standing in the way of finding cures for these terrible illnesses.

Rev. Mark Worth

Ellsworth