Progressives and proponents of Roe v. Wade have done a lot of handwringing and social media-posting in the aftermath of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. Citizens of a democracy like ours will understand that these court decisions have both a legal and an educational role. Roe and Doe …
Continue...Steve Hammond was a 28-year-old OB/GYN resident who started performing abortions to earn some extra money and because, it turned out, he was especially good at it. According to his own reckoning he performed more than 700 abortions. “I was convinced,” he recounts, “that abortion was just another procedure and that I was helping my …
Continue...My father died Feb, 11, 2022, in the presence of family, but in the care of strangers. He was in memory care for his dementia. Although we were with him 12 hours a day, family members were limited in what we could do. We could not provide his medications, treat his symptoms, or offer a …
Continue...When Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton were handed down by the United States Supreme Court in 1973, the question everyone was asking was, “When does human life begin?” Every honest person already knew the answer to that question, and every honest person knows the answer today. Human life begins at conception. When a living …
Continue...The International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR) will recommend abolishing a longstanding ethical limitation on human embryo research. For decades the scientific community has observed the so-call 14-day rule. This ethical guideline—first formulated in the United Kingdom under the Warnock Commission in the mid-1980s—requires that embryos may only be gestated for 14 days after …
Continue...Mary has been a resident of West Valley Assisted Living Center for three years. She has a new caregiver named Harvey. Harvey visits Mary’s room every morning at 8:30 a.m. sharp. He says, “Hellllooo!” and slowly pushes open her door. Harvey brings Mary her morning medication, takes her blood pressure, and asks, “How are you …
Continue...Although it is not without controversy, even those who defend the sanctity of every unborn human life recognize that there might be at least one exception. What do we do when a mother’s right to life conflicts with an unborn child’s right to life? What is a “right to life”? Before dealing with a potential …
Continue...Peter Singer, Princeton’s Ira W. Decamp Professor of Bioethics in the University Center for Human Values, is (in)famous for his arguments about personhood. For Singer, only beings that have sentience can appropriately be describe as persons. Sentience is the ability to experience conscious pleasure and pain. Conscious pain is that interior state of mind that …
Continue...I had the dubious distinction of graduating from high school in 1973, the year Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton where handed down by the Supreme Court, giving the U.S. the most permissive abortion policy in the Western world. I remember well the question everyone was asking at that time: “When does human life …
Continue...The movie “Jurassic Park” contains many memorable lines, but perhaps none as haunting as when mathematician Ian Malcolm (played by Jeff Goldblum) declares, “Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should.” There might have been a time in the history of science where the …
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