Many still confused about churchs teaching on stem cells

It is difficult to predict what topic might come up in conversation at a backyard barbeque these days. I was recently with a group who began to discuss stem cell research. Otherwise well-informed people seemed confused and ill-informed about this admittedly complicated issue. As is often the case, emotion ran ahead of logic.

What I heard led me to think that it would not be a bad idea to address this issue, even in mid-summer when our thoughts naturally turn to leisurely pursuits. It is important that we not allow ourselves to become lazy in our thinking about the dignity of human life.

The teaching of the Catholic Church on stem cell research is often misrepresented and misunderstood. Most types of stem cell research are morally acceptable and can be encouraged. People from a variety of religious and ethical backgrounds can support many exciting avenues of research that now show great promise of benefit. These include umbilical cord and adult stem cell research. New techniques are being developed that make it possible to obtain new and more powerful stem cells in ways that are morally acceptable. More flexible ("pluripotent") forms of adult stem cells are being discovered in various tissues and organs all the time. Scientists, who are interested in promoting human life and dignity, including many Catholic scientists, are working hard in these areas. Catholics should feel welcome to contribute funds to support this legitimate stem cell research, as well as to support laws and policies that encourage it.

We must be clear, however, that stem cell research can never be considered legitimate or moral when it causes the destruction of living human embryos. This "embryonic" stem cell research, often done in the name of helping persons who may be suffering from serious diseases, actually causes the destruction of a unique human life that is just beginning. In promoting the use of embryonic stem cells, advocates will often seek to dehumanize embryos, suggesting that, because they are microscopic, and appear to be different from us, they could not really be one of us. This suggestion, often unspoken, has helped gain legal protection and support for this research in Illinois and other states. But we must not let ourselves simply give in to what may now become custom.

Early human embryos are somewhat unfamiliar to us. They have no hands or feet; we cannot look into their faces. It does stretch our imagination, perhaps, to think of them as human beings. Yet, even though an embryo is at the moment a microscopic cluster of cells, what else could it be as life is beginning? This new member has now entered the human family. This is how you and I once were. We were vulnerable, almost invisible, but we were alive, deserving of respect and protection.

In recent years, many have come to reconsider their past support for abortion after seeing images and even photos of the child in the womb. The same type of recognizable image is not possible with a human embryo. But the scientific evidence is just as compelling.

Human embryos are "useful" in research precisely because they are human and alive. Human dignity is not served when we discriminate against some human beings (and destroy them) in the interest of helping others. Recognizing the dignity of human embryos does not depend on religion. Each of us can possess an accurate understanding of where we each originated. Each of us can support the shared rights that are ours regardless of age, size, health or dependency.