WASHINGTON (October 28, 2009)--A federal judge in Washington has dismissed a Christian adoption agency's challenge to Obama administration regulations that expand stem cell research.

The case arose from a decision by President Barack Obama to lift restraints on stem-cell research that were put in place by President George W. Bush.

Nightlight Christian Adoptions contended in a lawsuit that the government's new guidelines would decrease the number of human embryos available for adoption, but Judge Royce Lamberth called the assertion speculative.

Lamberth said donors still could choose to continue to store the embryos or give them to an adoption agency rather than donate them for research.

He also ruled that for Nightlight to have grounds to sue, potential embryo donors have to choose to donate their embryos for research and not for adoption.

Nightlight helps individuals adopt human embryos that are stored in fertilization clinics.