Imagine a pregnant woman diagnosed with uterine cancer and the only treatment alternative is a hysterectomy which would likely save her life, but surely end in the death of the child. Absent any action, both are expected to die. In such an instance, is the loss of the child permissible? The answer is simple, but the logic is worth understanding well. Read

Chimeras are formed by combining genetically-distinct cells, in this case human cells and animal cells. In 2005, the U.S. National Research Council and the Institute of Medicine recommended limits on such research, but 10 years later, they have reopened the debate. Where objections are rightfully raised, language is twisted and manipulated to disguise the truth of what is taking place, making an ethical analysis of a complex situation even more complex. Read

In the unity of life’s development there is no “threshold” after which something that was not yet human becomes human. Science leads us to affirm that if it was not human from the beginning, it would never become so. Therefore, we must cast out any temptation to establish a “before” and “after.” There is no leap, no transformation in essence, by which the zygote, embryo or fetus becomes at some moment of its development something that it wasn’t from its conception. Read