Equal Time: Life far too precious to exploit

We at Georgia Right to Life have always supported adult stem cell research, which to date has 70 known cures to its credit.

But we are opposed to destructive human embryonic stem cell research and applaud the Senate Health and Human Services Committee for passing Senate Bill 169, The Ethical Treatment of Human Embryos Act.

The human embryo is one of us, fully human with great potential. Every living human being goes through the embryonic state and through the continuum of stages from fertilization until old age, unless interrupted by death. This is true medical science. SB 169 will ensure that Georgia taxpayers only fund ethical and fiscally responsible research into the future.

Our opponents seem to be far more committed to unbridled science than to human dignity and ethics. Do money and economic development mean more to Georgia than the ethical protection of human life? Should we sacrifice a human life for the remote possibility of a medical cure for someone else?

We think not. Georgians are God-fearing, good-hearted people who value life more than money.

President Obama signed an executive order Monday that will allow federal funding of research that requires the killing of human embryos. This order reverses a policy instituted by former President George W. Bush in August 2001, which funded research on already existing stem cell lines while discouraging any further destruction of human life.

Obama’s order also places our society on a very steep and very slippery slope. Since many researchers will not be content to use only so-called “surplus” embryos, they will demand support for the creation and destruction of human embryos just for research, through human cloning and other methods.

Human cloning efforts could possibly lead to human embryo farms, shades of movies such as “The Matrix,” where human beings are used as power sources, or “The Island,” where humans are cloned for their body parts.

We in Georgia are going to uphold the view that human beings are more precious than money, biotech conventions or economic development. There is nothing in SB 169 that prohibits research — it does prohibit killing human embryos.

Human embryos will not be used for ghoulish practices like human embryo farms — not in Georgia. They will not be used for forming human-animal hybrids — not in Georgia. They will not be used for exploitation and raw research material — not in Georgia. They will not be cloned and brought to birth in an artificial womb — not in Georgia.

As far as we can tell, Obama has sealed his confirmation as the “abortion president” with his executive order Monday. We in Georgia, with the passing of SB 169, will seal our confirmation as pro-life people.

• Daniel Becker is president of Georgia Right to Life.