Stem Cell Hypocrisy of Bush Government

LATimes has a scathing editorial on the Stem Cell hypocrisy practiced by Bush and his government.

Photographs in Wednesday’s papers of President Bush with cuddly little babies, all of whom were produced from surplus fertilized eggs at fertility clinics, represent a White House attempt to deal with the biggest flaw in logic regarding its stem cell policy — and its moral weak point.

Here is what happens to those embryos: Some are destroyed because a microscopic examination indicates that they are defective or abnormal. Some of the rest are implanted. But generally, there are some left over. These may be discarded, or frozen for future attempts, or frozen indefinitely; it’s up to the customers.

Encouraging the donation of frozen embryos to prospective parents, even under the most optimistic scenario, would put only a small dent in the supply. According to a 2003 study, there are almost half a million frozen human embryos in storage in the United States. The vast majority of them — 87% — were frozen in case the parents might need them, but the vast majority of that vast majority will never be needed or used. An embryo-adoption drive wouldn’t save the embryos that die in other stages of the process. And ironically, the recipients of donated fertilized eggs also generally have several implanted in the hope that one will survive. In effect, donation results in the deaths of embryos that would otherwise stay frozen.

He concludes:

It’s a choice between real human lives and a symbolic statement about the value of an embryo. And it’s a statement belied by the reality of in vitro fertilization and how it works.

There is no valid reason for Bush to veto the bill, which will only save human lives in exchange for embroys which will anyway be destroyed.

It is a sad day for humanity when religious illogical sentimentality prevails over reason and science and the need to save precious human life.