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Denver’s outgoing Congresswoman Diana DeGette has watched as mobs of religious-right protesters demonstrated at her doorstep.

She witnessed the giggles of Republican lawmakers as the Committee on Energy and Commerce discussed the prevention of breast and cervical cancer.

And she shook her head in dismay when the House Health Subcommittee called upon members of the cult Raelians to provide testimony. The Raelians believe the human race was created from space travelers 25,000 years ago and are trying to perfect human reproductive cloning so they can become immortal.

“These are the types of absurdities I’ve witnessed for more than 10 years, and I mean to shine a light on them in these pages,” writes the Democrat in her recent book, “Sex, Science and Stem Cells: Inside the Right Wing Assault On Reason.”

Timely?

The Denver Daily News recently spoke with DeGette about her book. Relieved to be back with her family at her home in the Hilltop neighborhood, while anxiously awaiting the landing of the Democratic National Convention in her very own city, DeGette explained that the current state of politics in America is what made the book necessary.

“I don’t think (Sen. John) McCain would support some stem-based research,” said DeGette, chief architect of the stem-cell legislation vetoed twice by President Bush. “But beyond that, with all the other issues — birth control, an international AIDS policy — I would think it would be four more years of the same.”

Switching to Obama

Originally a backer of Sen. Hillary Clinton for president, DeGette says she changed her tune, not just for the unity of the Democratic party, but because she truly believes in Sen. Barack Obama. She said she wrote the book now because she wants Americans to understand that the Democratic ticket will lead to an expanded, but ethical stem-cell research program.

The Chief Deputy Whip for the House Leadership does not view her book as a slap in the face to the GOP or religious-right. DeGette simply says she is exposing aspects of politics that often go overlooked by average citizens.

“Some of these people who take these really extreme positions have become sort of dependent on people not wanting to talk about it,” she said. “It gives them cover when they talk extreme positions and I don’t think anyone had the nerve to bring it out.”

DeGette is obviously frustrated that the president vetoed her stem-cell legislation twice. But what really gets her is that he never once approved a meeting with her to discuss the bill. There’s a few things she’d like to say, though, if she could sit down with Mr. Bush and discuss the measure.

“I’d just tell him that the embryos are thrown away as medical waste. All we want to do is give people the opportunity to donate embryos for ethical science research, which could have cures for hundreds of millions of Americans,” she said.

“Some years ago I had this naive view that if I could just sit down with him and look him in the eye, I could explain it to him and he would be convinced,” added DeGette. “Maybe that’s why he didn’t meet with me,” she quipped.

Abortion and birth control

The book takes a look not just at failed stem-cell legislation, but also opposition to abortion and birth control, including efforts to restrict birth control to government employees, despite the fact that plans cover Viagra. 

The congresswoman says the pro-choice movement must stay vigilant, or else it could face a nationwide ban on abortion. She points to a Colorado ballot initiative facing voters this November that would define a fertilized human egg as a person. The initiative marks the first time voters anywhere in the nation will be asked to answer the question of when life begins.

“We’re now trying to move the ball back to our side of the playing field, to say it’s not about abortion, it’s about preventing unwanted pregnancies,” said DeGette. 

As for Ms. DeGette’s next book: “Let’s just get through this election,” she says.

“Sex, Science and Stem Cell: Inside the Right Wing Assault on Reason”

AUTHOR: Congresswoman Diana DeGette with Daniel Paisner

PUBLISHER: The Lyons Press

COST: $24.95, hardcover

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