Embryo research is immoral, say American bishops

BY NANCY FRAZIER O'BRIEN
AMERICA'S bishops have overwhelmingly approved a statement calling the use of human embryos in such research "gravely immoral" and unnecessary.
In the last vote of the public session of their general assembly in Orlando, Florida, the bishops voted 191-1 in favour of the document entitled On
Embryonic Stem-Cell Research: A Statement of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops.
"It now seems undeniable that once we cross the fundamental moral line that prevents us from treating any fellow human being as a mere object of research, there is no stopping point," the document said.
"The only moral stance that affirms the human dignity of all of us is to reject the first step down this path."
The seven-page policy statement was approved with little debate and few amendments.
Archbishop Joseph Naumann of Kansas City said the statement was the first issued by the American bishops' conference on the subject.
"Even our opponents admit that ours is one of the most effective voices against destroying human embryos for stem-cell research," he added.
It says: "While human life is threatened in many ways in our society, the destruction of human embryos for stem-cell research confronts us with an issue of respect for life in a stark new way.
"The issue of stem-cell research does not force us to choose between science and ethics, much less between science and religion. It presents a choice as to how our society will pursue scientific and medical progress."
The policy statement seeks to refute three arguments made in favour of permitting stemcell research that involves the destruction of human embryos.
It says proponents of embryonic stem-cell research argue that any harm done is outweighed by potential benefits; that what is destroyed is not a human life, or at least not a human being with fundamental human rights, and that dissecting human embryos for their cells should not be seen as a loss of embryonic life.
The document says that "the false assumption that a good end can justify direct killing has been the source of much evil in our world".
"No commitment to a hoped-for 'greater good' can erase or diminish the wrong of directly taking innocent human lives here and now," it says. "In fact, policies undermining our respect for human life can only endanger the vulnerable patients that stemcell research offers to help. The same ethic that justifies taking some lives to help the patient with Parkinson's or Alzheimer's disease today can be used to sacrifice that very patient tomorrow."