Robert P. George, Princeton University

I commend the statement published by several of my colleagues on the President’s Council on Bioethics concerning federal funding of embryo-destructive research. I share with them the conviction that each and every member of the human family, irrespective not only of race, sex, and ethnicity, but also irrespective of age, size, location, stage of development, or condition of dependency, possesses profound, inherent, and equal dignity. That is why, like the signatories to the statement, I oppose research, and a fortiori public funding of research, involving the killing of human embryos. Human embryos are not nonhuman, or subhuman, or prehuman creatures that may legitimately be treated as raw material for research designed to benefit others. Each embryo is, rather, a human being in the earliest stages of his or her natural development. Although I object to nothing in the statement, I thought a bit more needed to be said to ensure maximum clarity. For example, in the discussion of President Bush’s policy on the funding of embryonic stem-cell research, I thought it important to note that not all signatories agreed with every aspect of the President’s policy. Some of us, for example, did not support the President’s decision to permit funding of research using stem cell lines derived prior to August 9, 2001. Still, what the statement says is true and important. I congratulate my colleagues for their excellent work, and I warmly commend their fine statement to our fellow citizens.

Links:

Bioethics Forum: Federal Funding of Embryonic Stem Cell Research – Gilbert Meilaender, Paul McHugh, Benjamin Carson, Nicholas Eberstadt, Jean Bethke Elshtain, Alfonso Gómez-Lobo, William Hurlbut, Donald Landry, Peter Lawler, and Diana Schaub