Can you imagine a National Bioethics Advisory Committee with people like John Haas, Robert George, Leon Kass, James Q. Wilson, and Stanley Hauerwas. Men and women of faith should clamor for it. Some argue that there are thousands of spare human embryos that are going to waste as a result of in vitro fertilization . These embryos are literally held in cold storage and will never be used because in vitro clients create more embryos than they will actually use. Just at the point where the tragic sense should kick in, the American disposition is to start extracting the resources from these embryos so we can do some good, that is, make a healthier, happier America.
Nothing illustrates better the way one ethical breakdown leads to another.
There shouldn t be thousands of frozen embryos in the first place, so there would be no temptation to harvest them for our good purposes. The owners of in vitro clinics probably see this as a way both to profit from their embryo banks while avoiding the dilemma of what to do with the embryos down the road. The National Institutes of Health lists Parkinson s, diabetes, heart disease, multiple sclerosis, burns, and spinal cord injuries among the maladies that can be treated with stem cells. Even Jerry Lewis, a man whose charitable work I greatly admire, was touting the benefits of stem cell treatment for muscular dystrophy on his last Labor Day telethon. The essential principle of a culture of life is the protection of those most vulnerable among us.