Given embryonic stem-cell research, human cloning and genetic engineering, is science working against the pro-life movement?
An unfortunate hubris has seeped into the leadership of science and bioethics — an attitude that sees science as the be-all and end-all. But naked science, unmediated by morality, can become monstrous. I’m not saying these scientists are monstrous, but that biotechnology has developed astonishing powers to the point that we possess the ability to manipulate the very building blocks of life. It seems to me that kind of sheer power calls for a little humility. After all, we are the species that created the unsinkable Titanic. In our society, we create proper parameters and checks and balances through democratic processes. We don’t allow certain things to be done in human research, not because science says don’t do it, (but) because our ethics and our values say don’t do that to human beings. Science, as every human enterprise, needs ethical boundaries beyond which it should not go, and we have a right to decide what those proper parameters are. For more information, please visit Wesley J
