12 January 2003
By
Fr. Michael Dolan
This week’s article: “Rationalizations of the Pro-Abortion Constituency!”
Since we are coming up on the March for Life, I thought I’d comment on three rationalizations of the pro-abortion constituency. The rationalizations address embryonic stem cells, procurement of embryonic stem cells, and contraception.
First, with regard whether human discovery of previously hidden things confers God’s sanction for unlimited exploitation of those things is patently false now, as it has been in the past. Discovery of stem cells is a privilege bestowed by God, and privilege always begets a responsibility. The privilege to harvest atomic energy comes with the responsibility not to use it for human destruction; the privilege to discover or to create medicines comes with the responsibility not to use them to kill or euthanize. With profound insight, such as the discovery of embryonic cell, comes profound responsibility wherein demand is made for respect, reverence, and restraint. The need for restraint in the use of embryonic stem cells might have been almost indefensible had it not been for the discovery of equally useful stem cells in adult tissues, which offers a morally acceptable recourse in this very promising area of research.
Secondly, to say that the isolated mass of embryonic stem cells cannot by itself develop into an individual is true, but let us emphasize that in the procurement of these cells, the integrated, fully potent living human organism which is the embryo has been destroyed. Embryos are killed to procure stem cells.
Thirdly, to say that, while the embryo is developing, it does not become a life until it is implanted in the mother’s womb is a variation on the relatively recent and capricious redefinition of contraception, which states that destruction of the embryo prior to implantation in the wall of the uterus is not abortion, it is contraception. Of course anything predicated on falsehood is itself false. The mother nurtures life, she does not initiate it. I wonder what the ‘smart people’ will say when in our brave new world we have succeeded in maintaining the complete development of the child in some contrived out-of-body incubator. The latter is just a matter of time. Indeed, patents on these devices are currently pending (see next week’s column).
When the natural law, God’s Law, is placed at the discretion of secularists to be manipulated, edited, and redefined rather than be reverenced as an inviolable guide to acceptable moral actions, we come to the place where we now stand, no longer on the edge, no longer on the slippery slope, but smack in the pit of perdition. (To be continued)
May God bless you always,
Father Mike
Next Week: “Capitalistic Cannibalism!”