The Irony of Life

The Associated PressPublished: January 22, 2007
WASHINGTON: President George W. Bush marked the 34th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion on Monday, telling thousands of abortion foes he shares their goal of seeing "the day when every child is welcomed in life and protected into law."

Bush also signaled his unchanged opposition to a key goal of the Democrats who now control Congress: broadening embryonic stem-cell research.

"Our challenge is to make sure that science serves the cause of humanity instead of the other way around," the president said in a telephone call piped over loudspeakers to a Washington rally of opponents of abortion rights. "I have made clear to the Congress, we must pursue medical advances in the name of life, not at the expense of it."

Bush calls the rally each year, usually from distant locations. This year, he extended his weekend stay at the Camp David presidential retreat to phone the participants from there.

Bush last year vetoed a bill bolstering embryonic stem cell research that advocates say shows promise for numerous medical cures. Earlier this month, the House passed such a bill again, though by a margin short of what would be required to overturn another veto from the president.

With abortion foes in a more defensive posture now that Democrats gained control of Congress, Bush urged them to do more than look toward legislative victories.

"We've all got to remember that a true culture of life cannot be built by changing laws alone. We've all got to work hard to change hearts," he said. "The sanctity of life is written in the life of all men and women. And so I think, go forth with confidence that a cause rooted in human dignity and appealing to the best instincts of our citizens cannot fail."

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There is some very interesting irony here. For a President that has sent more than 3,000 US young men to die in Iraq and who at best was misguided and at worst was prepared to sacrifice the lives of thousands innocents in order to achieve his own agenda when he ordered the invasion of Iraq, he could talk about the protection of life without batting an eyelid. Nevermind that there is also some rather strange logic at work here, when the President is all prepared to use his veto power to block embryonic stem cell research that can potentially save thousands if not millions of lives around the world in order to protect lumps of non-sentient cells using the argument that "we must pursue medical advances in the name of life, not at the expense of it." But of course, the President is not alone in being deluded. I suppose about half of the Americans are with the President on this one.

And the reason is simple. These people are deluded by their religious beliefs. By holding on to the belief that every physical human body houses an immortal soul, is is a natural extension to then think that even a fertilized egg must hold a soul as well. If this is true, then even destroying a fertilized egg is akin to murder.

But if we are to discard such an irrational and scientifically unproven belief in the "ghost in a machine", then things become really more fuzzy because from a scientific perspective, life is a continuum from sperm and egg, to zygote, to blastocyst, to embryo, to fetus, to newborn infant. The signs of life like development of organs and limbs, primitive reflexes like curling of toes, etc also only develop gradually with each phase. It is true that an embryo has the potential to become a fully functional human being but one should not be confused into thinking of that as a full person. If so, then one can even argue that contraceptive measures like pills and condoms would be wrong since it prevents the realization of the potential of uniting the sperm and the egg.

Going back to the issue of embryonic stem cells, we have to ask ourselves the question; is the imagined rights of embryoes which have no basic signs of life like respiration (that even plants have), heart beat and neural activities much less any awareness really more important than the lives of actual living sentient human beings who can feel pain and pleasure, have memories and volition and are loved by their own families, friends and spouses? Who is really denying the right to life by blocking embryonic stem cell research here?