As per Cardinal Rigali's 11/20/07 statement, "Studies published this week in the journals Cell and Science offer new hope for advancing stem cell research and therapies while fully respecting the dignity of human life" <www.usccb.org/comm/archives/2007/07-194.shtml>. Unfortunately, some have misinterpreted this promising news, naively believing that unethical stem cell research will readily be discarded.
The rise of the IVF industry has created an unbelievable number of "excess" human embryos. As per a 2/17/08 piece by Ed Langlois, "Worldwide, four million embryos are frozen, one million of them in the U.S." <www.sentinel.org/node/8787>. The opportunity to "donate" embryos for research provides an anesthetic to the consciences of some parents. Because this practice has helped to foster powerful denials about some of the inherent evils of the IVF industry, it is unlikely to easily fade away.
In the newly published "Embryo: A Defense of Human Life" (Doubleday, January 2008), Princeton University's Robert George and the University of South Carolina's Christopher Tollefsen debunk all the misguided ethical and/or junk science attempts to deny that human embryos are human beings. Because they are human beings, no one has the right to kill or otherwise wrong human embryos. Every Pro-life American needs to stay aware that our need to defend our youngest brothers and sisters has not come to an end - not by a long shot.
The Holy Father is certainly well aware that our need to defend human embryos against unethical research has not come to an end. In a 1/31/08 address to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Pope Benedict XVI rhetorically asked: "When human beings, in the weakest and most defenceless stage of their lives are selected, abandoned, killed or used as mere 'biological material', how can it be denied that they are no longer being treated as 'someone' but rather as 'something', hence, calling into question the very concept of human dignity?" <www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/speeches/2008/january/documents/hf_ben-xvi_spe_20080131_dottrina-fede_en.html>.
The rise of the IVF industry has created an unbelievable number of "excess" human embryos. As per a 2/17/08 piece by Ed Langlois, "Worldwide, four million embryos are frozen, one million of them in the U.S." <www.sentinel.org/node/8787>. The opportunity to "donate" embryos for research provides an anesthetic to the consciences of some parents. Because this practice has helped to foster powerful denials about some of the inherent evils of the IVF industry, it is unlikely to easily fade away.
In the newly published "Embryo: A Defense of Human Life" (Doubleday, January 2008), Princeton University's Robert George and the University of South Carolina's Christopher Tollefsen debunk all the misguided ethical and/or junk science attempts to deny that human embryos are human beings. Because they are human beings, no one has the right to kill or otherwise wrong human embryos. Every Pro-life American needs to stay aware that our need to defend our youngest brothers and sisters has not come to an end - not by a long shot.
The Holy Father is certainly well aware that our need to defend human embryos against unethical research has not come to an end. In a 1/31/08 address to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Pope Benedict XVI rhetorically asked: "When human beings, in the weakest and most defenceless stage of their lives are selected, abandoned, killed or used as mere 'biological material', how can it be denied that they are no longer being treated as 'someone' but rather as 'something', hence, calling into question the very concept of human dignity?" <www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/speeches/2008/january/documents/hf_ben-xvi_spe_20080131_dottrina-fede_en.html>.
"A Person's A Person, No Matter How Small" (Dr. Seuss)
