Steven Bozza, MAJune 26, 2001 Embryonic stem cell research has been the focus of much attention since President George W. Bush signaled his intention to deny federal funding for it. The conversation thus far has been centered on the morality of destroying spare embryos from Assisted Reproduction Technologies (A.R.T.) such as In Vitro Fertilization (I.V.F.) and Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection (I.C.S.I.). This has been the major concern of the political discourse, and rightly so. However, it is being discussed in isolation, outside the total context of the objective moral order. The destruction of spare embryos for scientific research is just one of many moral issues surrounding embryonic stem cell research. It can be traced to an even broader moral dilemma, the generation of human life outside the loving embrace of husband and wife in the marital act. So what are the pitfalls of this narrow moral discourse? First. It side-steps the moral evaluation of I.V.F. and I.C.S.I. which produce these spare embryos in the first place. Second. It further perpetrates the “end justifies the means” mentality by which proponents of embryonic stem cell research rationalize the destruction of human embryos. To them, the hope of curing debilitating illnesses such as Parkinson’s Disease, far outweigh the immorality of destroying human life. Third. This rationalization process develops into a utilitarian view of human life. The common rallying cry among proponents of embryonic stem cell research is, since these spare embryos are not being implanted they should be put into good use. Without a multi-layered approach to the moral conversation of this issue, those who advocate its use will find it easy to resort to Clintonian word plays to shape public opinion in there favor. This was nowhere more evident than in a recent Fox News interview with former U.S. senator Connie Mack of Florida who surprisingly supports federal funding of embryonic stem cell research. Sen. Mack, who had a very pro-life voting record in the Senate and who believes life begins at conception was asked by Tony Snow to justify his support for extracting stem cells from embryos which result in there destruction. His response was, “ it depends on how you define conception”. It is incumbent upon us all to discuss this issue in relation to the objective moral order and to demand that our spokespersons do the same |
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Pitfalls