From and op-ed in the Reno Gazette Journal:

Harvesting embryonic stem cells destroys (kills) the embryo–so there is an ethical problem: at which stage or stages in life is it acceptable to take a life? Ethicist Levin writes (NY Times) that “[m]any advocates of federal financing for embryo-destructive research…argue that the human embryo is just too small, too unlike us in appearance, or too lacking in consciousness or sensitivity to pain or other critical mental capacity to be granted a place in the human family…” He points out that this was not the position of our founding fathers who said “equality is self-evident.”…

It’s springtime: the time of rebirth and rejuvenation and optimism. Today there is ground for great optimism for the cure of many debilitating and deadly diseases, but cure shouldn’t come at the cost of degrading the value of any human life.

Amen to that! Yes, we all want cures. Cures are good! But no good can justify participating that which is intrinsically evil – the destruction of human life for scientific research.

h/t: bioethics.com