Faith, Beer, and Other Things That Interest Geoff

It is easy to ignore the nature of what are referred to as mere "clumps of cells" or "blastocysts." But all of us are clumps of cells, and all of us were once tiny blastocysts -- separate and unique human beings at the earliest stage of life. The research endorsed by the House means ending the lives of some human beings. Why do we blind ourselves to that irreducible fact? Because we fervently hope to gain something from it -- in this case, the chance of longer or better lives for ourselves. Few of us would indulge scientists who proposed to dismember an actual baby, even if doing so were guaranteed to save lives. But we find ways to excuse the dismemberment of embryos that need only nine months to become babies. Convenience trumps conscience.