Gingrich wants panel to look at vitro clinics

LUTZ, Fla. - Republican presidential contender Newt Gingrich says a commission should be created to study ethical issues relating to in vitro fertilization clinics, where infertile women receive treatment to get pregnant and large numbers of embryos are created.
  
Gingrich, who opposes abortion, said there should be rules "for clinics that do that because they're creating life."
  
Standing outside a Baptist church in Florida where he attended Sunday worship services, Gingrich said he opposes the use of leftover embryos for stem cell research, which advocates say offers the hope of treatments or cures for a variety of diseases.
  
In vitro fertilization involves creating an embryo outside a woman's body, then implanting it inside the womb. Excess embryos may be stored at the clinic, discarded, used for research or made available to other couples. A study nearly a decade ago estimated there were as many as 400,000 in existence.