PAPIST THREAT ON OUR SHORES!
(Calling Thomas Nast….)
(The photo was taken before a dinner at the White House given in McCarrick’s honor)
Amid all the hoopla, American Papist has an important post on the forgotten Stem Cell Bill…one which supports another kind of research, one attempting to produce sort of non-embryos, but that mimic embryos, for the sake of extracting stem cells. The discussion over this has been covered here before, and AP summarizes:
A debate has previously taken place over the last months in the journals of Communio (led by David Schindler of the JP2 Institute in Washington, D.C.) and the National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly on this exact question concerning the ANT/OAR procedure. David Delaney of the C-L-S blog has covered this debate in-depth in a series of posts, and I would highly recommend reading what he and Communio have written to understand the progression of scholarly and professional thinking on ANT/OAR.
Having read the arguments of both sides of this debate (to the tune of several hundred pages of material), I agree with the ALL that ANT/OAR is, if not positively proven to be unethical, at the very least still riddled with serious enough questions to oppose its implementation in human trials. Two essays which discuss the reasons why ANT/OAR is unethical can be found here (briefly) and here (more completely).
A simple one-sentence summary of the problem with ANT/OAR is that it is nothing more than a hybrid form of the SCNT procedure (consisting in the donation of the genetic material from one cell into a female egg cell that then sets itself into development) which is the cloning of new human life. This new human life is then destroyed for its pluripotent stem cells.
An added argument to my opposition to ANT/OAR is that it requires the hyperovulation of women to provide the necessary female egg cells (a procedure that also raises ethical reservations among competent moral theologians).
Why am I taking my time to voice my opposition to S. 2754? Because the “catholic position” on this issue is hardly unanimous. Prominent figures in politics and the Catholic hierarchy have supported ANT/OAR, including Robert P. George and Cardinal Keeler [alternate source]. The list of other prominent supporters, frankly, goes on and on. It is in this atmosphere of overall support that President Bush’s ethical advisors have given ANT/OAR the green light.
The bill passed the Senate, 100-0.
Read Previous Post