LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - The ruling was a setback to the Obama administration, which last year issued guidelines to allow federal funding for embryonic stem cell research.

The ruling stated that all embryonic stem cell research involves destroying embryos, which violates the Dickey-Wicker Amendment included in federal spending bills.

"The Dickey-Wicker Amendment unambiguously prohibits the use of federal funds for all research in which a human embryo is destroyed," said the ruling by Lamberth, who was nominated to the federal bench by then-President Ronald Reagan in 1987. "It is not limited to prohibit federal funding of only the 'piece of research' in which an embryo is destroyed. Thus, if ESC [embryonic stem cell] research is research in which an embryo is destroyed, the guidelines, by funding ESC research, violate the Dickey-Wicker Amendment."

President Obama signed an executive order that repealed a Bush-era policy limiting federal dollars for human stem cell research in March of last year. Obama's act permitted the National Institutes of Health to conduct and fund studies on embryonic stem cells.

This week's ruling involved a lawsuit against the National Health Institute filed by researchers opposed to use of embryonic stem cells, a group that seeks adoptive parents for human embryos created through in vitro fertilization, the non-profit Christian Medical Association and others.

The ruling halts funding of stem cell research while the lawsuit proceeds through the legal system. The government can appeal the injunction.

Embryonic Stem Cell research remains embroiled in controversy because the research process involves destroying the embryo. The embryos used in such research are typically four or five days old. These cells are then blank and can become any cell in the body.

Some scientists believe embryonic stem cells could help treat many diseases and disabilities, because of their potential to develop into many different cell types in the body.

Ron Stoddart, executive director of Nightlight Christian Adoptions, one of the groups that filed the lawsuit, reiterated that he supported adult stem cell research that doesn't require destroying embryos.

"Frequently people will say why are you opposed to stem cell research and of course are answer is, we're not," Stoddart said. "We're opposed to the destruction of the embryos to get embryo stem cells."