In the wake of President Bush's veto of legislation that would have expanded funding for embryonic stem cell research and funded the destruction of human embryos, Molly Dillon of the Nevada Juvenile Diabetes Research says "this (embryonic stem cell research) has nothing to do with cloning. This is about fertilized eggs from fertility clinics that would otherwise be thrown away as medical waste. It's not a right-to-life issue, it's a right-to-quality-of-life issue."
This is a right to life issue and it is about cloning. Human embryonic stem cell research is wrong-as we noted in the same RGJ article, because "No human being is expendable for science or anything else." Embryonic stem cell research kills human embryos. It doesn't matter how small human embryos are. It doesn't matter that they are going to be thrown away or that some hypothetical good could come of it. It is offensive and demeaning to human dignity to say that any human being is "medical waste."
That's because human beings have inherent ultimate value. This ultimate value is intrinsic to us and woven into the fabric of our being. It's not earned, achieved, nor grown into or gradually realized. It does not depend on our size, our circumstances, being wanted or valued by others. We are not expendable because our demise could benefit others. Our ultimate infinite value belongs to us by our existence as human beings from the first moment of our existence. Once anyone becomes expendable, everyone becomes negotiable. There's no way to firewall the proposition that certain humans are expendable and keep it from ultimately impacting others. So this is a right to life issue. That makes it an ethical issue.
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