stemcell

A History Lesson Worth Learning: The Dangers of Embryonic Stem-Cell
Research
Fr. Allain B. Caparas

I remember sitting at my 8th grade history class at JEB Stuart Junior High School
learning about the Holocaust. And I can still remember what my history teacher
said when asked why we were studying the Holocaust -- "so that we can learn
not to allow it to happen again."

The recent decisions by President Barack Obama promoting pro-abortion and
anti-life policies make me wonder if we have indeed learned from the lessons of
the past.

The recent decision to federally fund embryonic stem-cell research is yet
another setback in the cause of human dignity. While many in the mainstream
media portrayed it as a progress in our efforts to fight diseases, unfortunately it
comes at the expense of the destruction of human life. Human life begins either
at the moment of conception or it does not. There is no middle ground. The
Catholic Church (which has often been accused of being backwards in it's
scientific research) uses the latest scientific consensus in this issue, and
teaches that human life begins at the moment of conception. And if that is true,
then human embryos are considered human life, and therefore must be treated
with dignity and respect.

How did we get these human embryos? Typically in our country, they are
produced in fertility clinics. In order to facilitate in-vitro fertilization,
approximately six human embryos are reproduced (usually in a Petri-dish). Even
though most couples aim to only have one child, they need to fertilize at least
six human embryos since one is not sufficient to facilitate an inception. The
failure rate of successfully implanting a human embryo in a woman's womb is just
too great. We just don't have the knowledge and scientific expertise to do this
procedure flawlessly. And the remaining embryos that are not used are then
either destroyed or more than likely frozen. There had been many reported
cases where these embryos are either sold in the black market for research or
for couples looking for "designer" embryos. In our country alone, there are
approximately 200,000 frozen embryos as a result of in-vitro fertilization -- and
rising. Hence, we see why so many are eager to lobby the President to allow
embryonic stem-cell research.

You can also now see why the Catholic Church does not accept In-vitro
fertilization as mean for human reproduction. Aside from the fact that the
manner of conception treats human life as a product and that it completely
de-personalizes and demoralizes human sexuality, it also has the unfortunate by
product of producing "extra" human embryos -- human life, Many are frozen and
may never have the opportunity to live!

The President's decision will have many negative ramifications. First of all, by
allowing experimentation and research on these embryos, they will assuredly be
destroyed. You cannot do "research" on human embryos and expect them to
survive. And if these embryos are human beings, then what the President has
sanctioned is the murder of human life.

Secondly, by federally funding embryonic stem-cell research, our tax money,
your tax money is being used directly to fund the destruction of life for the sake
of medical progress.

Thirdly, this decision will potentially create a market for more production of
embryos. Clinics will "produce and sell" more embryos, and people will now have
the incentives of selling their embryos and sperm to clinics and research centers
-- more so than what is already happening.

And lastly, by allowing research on human embryos, what's and who's to say
that we cannot do research on babies, the sick, and the handicapped -- who
many already and wrongly label as "less than" normal persons?

Looking at these events unfold, I detect a sense of historical irony in the
direction our country is heading. When the Nazis spelled out their "Final
Solution," one of their earliest violations to human dignity was the scientific
research done on "inferior" human beings for the sake of progress and medicine.
When the Allied Forces liberated the camps in Europe, they found evidence of
widespread human experimentation. And we in America wondered what sort of
people would allow something like that?

The tables have turned on us. What sort of people are we to allow such evil to
happen in our country? What sort of people are we to stand idly by and not
speak out? Are we bound to repeat history? Didn't we fight an entire war to
fight these ideas and vowed never to allow it to happen again? Maybe it would
do the new administration well to take a field trip to the Holocaust Museum. It's
not too far from the White House.

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