He turned his back on nothing. He is the only president to fund embryo stem cell research . He has taken a position of letting the people disscuss the ethics and decide for themselves when and if to proceed. Instead of letting a minority opinion drive an agenda. Kerry is a master of walking the fence and having two opinions about every issue. He is a supposed devout catholic which makes his choice on the matter clear yet he supports it. Some say Reagan turned his back on the AIDs issue they said at the time that millions would die because of it. As it turns out millions died and reagans choice had nothing to do with it. They still die today 20+ years later. The fruits of this research are a very long ways away and there are no guaranteees. It should be a very minor issue in the campaign. The only reason it is an issue at all is to point the finger at Bush being a Christian and nothing to do with the issue. If it where a real issue and viable it would move into the private sector and move forward.