In an interview with Jake Tapper, Newt Gingrich says that life begins at implantation and the view that it begins with conception is “ideological.” He adds:
In addition I would say that I’ve never been for embryonic stem cell research per se. I have been for, there are a lot of different ways to get embryonic stem cells. I think if you can get embryonic stem cells for example from placental blood if you can get it in ways that do not involve the loss of a life that’s a perfectly legitimate avenue of approach.
What I reject is the idea that we’re going to take one life for the purpose of doing research for other purposes and I think that crosses a threshold of de-humanizing us that’s very very dangerous.
(Apologies for the odd formatting above.)
Gingrich may have forgotten where he stood, but he did in fact back embryo-destructive stem-cell research in 2001. Also, it’s not clear why he would consider the destruction of human embryos taken from fertility clinics the taking of a life. They’ve never been implanted.