It is ridiculous for people who have already decided that it is moral to kill babies in the womb to show some squeamishness about destroying human embryos in a petri dish. No government should requisition innocent human beings for deadly experiments on the grounds that they are unwanted or unpopular.

Fertilized ova and embryos are full human beings with a soul. When stem cells are extracted from a surplus embryo, and the latter dies, a murder has occurred. It does not matter whether the stem cell extraction is done by a government researcher, or is done by an employee of a private company and sold to the government. Either way, a human person has been murdered in order to supply the cells. If one were to trace back far enough in time, the ancestors of the present-day stem cells came from an embryo that was murdered.

Embryonic stem-cell research is illegal, immoral and unnecessary. The National Institutes of Health is violating both the spirit and letter of the law. If we manage the cure of some diseases and the betterment of some aspects of bodily health by means that involve the killing of the most defenseless and innocent of human beings, we will rightfully be judged harshly by history as having sought some benefits at the expense of our humanity and moral being.