The laws and policies for stem cells in the United States have a complicated legal and political history. No federal law has ever banned stem cell research in the United States, but only placed restrictions on funding and use. In May 2005, the House of Representatives voted to relax the restrictions on federally funded embryonic stem-cell research by allowing government-funded research on surplus frozen embryos from in vitro fertilization clinics to be used for stem cell research with the permission of donors. The National Institutes of Health has hundreds of funding opportunities for researchers interested in funding stem cell research. 206 members of Congress, including many moderate Republicans, signed a letter urging President Bush to expand federal funding of embryonic stem cell research beyond what Bush had already supported.
Senate Majority Leader also announced that he too favored relaxing restrictions on the federal government’s financing of embryonic stem cell research. The Senate has passed three different bills concerning stem cell research. The Senate passed the first bill, which would have enabled the Federal government to spend Federal money on embryonic stem cell research that uses embryos left over from in vitro fertilization procedures. The second bill makes it illegal to create, grow, and abort fetuses for research purposes. The third bill supports research that would segregate embryonic-like, stem cells without destroying the human embryo
By executive order, President Barack Obama had done away specific limitations on federal funding for research for new experiments of human embryonic stem cells. Before the executive order, federal funding was limited to non-embryonic stem cell research and embryonic stem cell research based upon embryonic stem cell lines in existence. Federal funding arising from recent allocations to the under the Omnibus Appropriations Act of 2009, remains prohibited under the Dickey Amendment for the creation of a human embryo for research purposes; and/or research in which a human embryo or embryos are damaged, ruined, discarded, or intentionally subjected to risk of injury or death over and above that allowed for research on fetuses .
With the signing of the executive order, there has been a change that many scientists and researchers; doctors and innovators; patients and loved ones have hoped for, and fought for, during the last eight years for lifting the ban on federal funding for embryonic stem cell research. This will strongly support scientists who carry on this research. This will aim for America to lead the world in the discoveries it one day may yield. In 2011, a United States District Court dismissed a lawsuit that challenged the use of federal funds for embryonic stem cell research. The decision was a case sent from the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.