The use of in vitro fertilization has produced more than 400,000 human embryos at fertility clinics around the United States. About 88 percent are being held for potential use by the families who created them. But that leaves thousands who are not wanted by their families, and an intense debate is occurring about what to do with them. Some would like to see these human embryos harvested and killed for the purpose of stem cell research. But President Bush recognizes that each human embryo is a unique person created in the image of God, and possibly available for implantation in 6 to 7 million infertile couples in America. Recently he highlighted the humanity of these embryos by hosting at the White House 21 live children who were adopted as human embryos, including a child from an Arizona family. Putting a human face on these former embryos is an important step toward increasing understanding that their lives have value, and should not be discarded. - Len Munsil, Center for Arizona Policy
In addition to making an excellent point about in vitro fertilization and adoption, Len also contradicts the widely perpetuated embryonic stem cell myth that there are 400,000 embryos that are destined for destruction. James Thomson, the first scientist to isolate and culture human embryonic stem cells, said in a recent interview
. . . the bottom line is that there are 400,000 frozen embryos in the United States, and a large percentage of those are going to be thrown out. Regardless of what you think the moral status of those embryos is, it makes sense to me that it’s a better moral decision to use them to help people than just to throw them out. It’s a very complex issue, but to me it boils down to that one thing.Joe Carter notes that this type of argument is based on a false premise.
As Chicago Tribune columnist Steve Chapman points out, a 2003 survey by researchers at the RAND Corporation found that 88% of the embryos are being stored for their original function: to make babies for their parents. Only 2.2% of the embryos have been designated for disposal and less than 3% for research. That leaves only 11,000 "potential lives." For a country that has 125,000 adoptions every year, it would be reasonable to assume that most, if not all, 11,000 embryos could eventually be implanted by adoptive parents.Thomson's argument also suggests that research involving the purposeful destruction of human life (by definition 'murder') should be viewed as ethical if the person is going to die anyway. Imagine the public indignation that would occur if a scientist proposed harvesting body parts from the terminally ill or those on death row.
Unborn humans, including those in the embryonic stage of life, are no less valuable than the born and fully mature. Their lives should be respected and protected.
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