Most of that research was done in Japan. It has nothing to do with the Obama administration. First IPSs were created as early as 2006. Yamanaka got a Nobel Prize 2012, that's all. You don't need actual embryonic material to research IPS, that's the point. They come from adult cells.
The reason why it was controversial is, that it involved the destruction of an embryo. Whether the mother agrees to the research or not, some people will have a problem with experimentation on what can be considered a human being at an early stage of development.