Ruth Institute Blog

Dr J’s interview on Issues, Etc. this week deals with Gallup’s annual Values and Beliefs survey.  According to their findings, Americans are most likely to disagree over four issues: physician-assisted suicide, gay/lesbian relations, abortion, and out-of-wedlock childbearing.  (The others on the list we’re more and more likely to agree on, culminating in condemnation of adultery.)

All of the findings are interesting, and some are surprising.  For example–many of us apparently think physician-assisted suicide is okay but suicide (without a physician) isn’t.  If I’m interpreting this correctly, that means that there’s a section of the populace who wouldn’t condone self-suicide but would be fine with a physician ending lives.  Did they assume the question included them, or were they applying it only to others?  Is this some sort of attempt at checks and balances?  It comes across as muddled thinking.

Also, when the respondents were grouped by gender, men tended to be more accepting [of these hot-button issues] than women.  However, there was one category where men were less accepting than women: out-of-wedlock childbearing.  More women viewed this as “morally acceptable” (55%) than did men (52%).

The interview is now up on our podcast page (and iTunes) for your listening pleasure.

Four Moral Issues

The Anchoress points to this news in the Baltimore Sun:

With the financial backing of the Vatican, University of Maryland researchers will lead an international group of scientists to study adult stem cells from the intestines with the hope of discovering treatments for diseases while bypassing the ethical debates that have embroiled such research for a decade.
…
This is not the first time the Roman Catholic Church has funded stem cell research, said Richard Doerflinger, associate director of pro-life activities at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. Catholic dioceses in South Korea and Australia have supported adult stem cell research with grant money, he said.

“The Vatican has been very interested in adult stem cell research for many years,” he said. “I think it’s a logical outgrowth of the church’s interest in this field and of promoting ethically sound and beneficial stem cell research.”

As one of the scientists points out, Read more…

The doctor mentioned in my previous post ought to have a long chat with this woman.

By Victoria Moore

The moment I hear Elisabeth Shepherd’s voice on the phone I think she sounds like just the sort of person you would want looking after you if you were ill. Read more…

Killing oneself is becoming far too easy. Instead of letting them give up, can’t we help these people be happier and healthier? The suicide doctor mentioned in the article below, is far too glib when it comes to “euthanasia.” Glad people actually noticed. It’s disturbing.

Michael Cook

Euthanasia activists in Australia, the UK and the Netherlands have lost touch with reality.

Australian euthanasia activist Dr Philip Nitschke loves publicity. But whenever he opens his mouth, even the most progressive journalists avert their eyes in squeamish embarrassment. Read more…

Yet another example of how selfish people can be. So much for what’s best for the child. I want it, and I can get it, so I will. And of course the doctors aren’t willing to turn down a buck. So sad. Poor kids with moms who will likely die while the kids are in college. How kind. I’m willing to bet old women are doing this because their grown children are too selfish to provide grandchildren. And what 20-year-old wants to spend his time caring for his mom after her hip replacement surgery or while she’s dealing with dementia?

Michael Cook

Senior fertility specialists in the UK have rejected calls for an age cap on IVF eligibility. After 59-year-old Sue Tollefsen featured in a BBC documentary about her desire to get IVF in Britain so that she could give birth at 60, there were howls of indignation from the public. But doctors backed up Ms Tollefsen’s claim that she was fit to be a mother even though she would be 70 when her child was ten. “I agree there should be a cut-off point,” she told the London Times. “Perhaps 65 is too old, but I’m still so healthy I don’t see why I shouldn’t be treated.” Read more…

I’m shocked, and saddened. I expected more from Montana.

Michael Cook, BioEdge.com

The state of Montana has become the third US jurisdiction to allow doctors to participate in assisted suicide. In a 4-3 decision, its Supreme Court held that state law protects doctors from prosecution for helping terminally ill patients die. Read more…

Okay, so if no cures have been made from embryonic stem cells, why is its use still debated? If there has been success with adult stem cells, as this article states, the problem is solved! Win-Win! It’s so simple, people.

Charlie Butts – OneNewsNow -

The past decade spelled success in research with adult stem cells.

The one area in stem-cell research where there have been no successful treatments is research on human embryos, which involves killing a tiny human being. Dr. David Prentice of the Family Research Council tells OneNewsNow there has been progress in a related field, that of induced pluripotent stem cells that can be developed by taking, for example, skin cells and adding a few genes and reprogramming the cell so it looks and acts like an embryonic stem cell.

But the real success, says Prentice, has been with adult stem cells.

Continue reading.

Way to go Lithuania! Stick it to The Man. Stand up for what’s right when so few others are.

Bryan P. Bradley, Mercatornet.com

Sidestepping critics, Baltic nation strengthens family-friendly law on public information.

Lithuania lawmakers ended their year by amending a law on the protection of minors that had been condemned as “homophobic” by the European Parliament and other international bodies. But they did so in a way that strengthens and clarifies legal restrictions on public information which is out of synch with human dignity and family values. The small Baltic nation thus once again stands out for boldness among European states, such as Ireland and Italy, which are resisting the imposition of secularist policies by European Union bodies.

“Lithuania is a European state that holds to traditional ethical values which it has no intention of abandoning.” ~ Irena Degutiene, chair of Lithuanian parliament

Continue reading.

I don’t care what religion you are, the Pope speaks words of wisdom. Too bad more people don’t or won’t listen.

VATICAN CITY, DEC. 15, 2009 (Zenit.org).- Here is the message Benedict XVI wrote for the Jan. 1 World Day of Peace. The letter was released today and is titled: “If You Want to Cultivate Peace, Protect Creation.”

1. At the beginning of this New Year, I wish to offer heartfelt greetings of peace to all Christian communities, international leaders, and people of good will throughout the world. For this XLIII World Day of Peace I have chosen the theme: If You Want to Cultivate Peace, Protect Creation. Respect for creation is of immense consequence, not least because “creation is the beginning and the foundation of all God’s works”,[1] and its preservation has now become essential for the pacific coexistence of mankind. Man’s inhumanity to man has given rise to numerous threats to peace and to authentic and integral human development — wars, international and regional conflicts, acts of terrorism, and violations of human rights. Read more…

From this article we learn that there are even more problems with invitro fertilization and surrogacy than are common knowledge. Problems arise when playing God? Shocker!

Jared Yee, BioEdge.org

Different regulatory approaches to surrogacy in the US can result in legal tangles, according to a report in The New York Times Magazine. The “lax atmosphere” of surrogacy regulation “means that it is now essentially possible to order up a baby, creating an emerging commercial market for surrogate babies that raises vexing ethical questions.”

The Times gives three disturbing examples.

Continue reading: http://www.bioedge.org/index.php/bioethics/bioethics_article/8791/

Just because we can doesn’t mean we should. Did it occur to anyone that if a child is meant to be a girl, she should be? What’s wrong with letting nature take its course? How will a boy feel when one day he learns he was originally going to be a girl? Somehow this sounds like a familiar scenario, doesn’t it? Science is just finding more new ways to send people to therapy.

Michael Cook, BioEdge.org

Is it a boy or a girl? Expecting parents may be accustomed to this question, but contrary to what they may think, the answer doesn’t depend solely on their child’s sex chromosomes.

Scientists at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg, Germany and the UK’s Medical Research Council’s National Institute for Medical Research (NIMR) have discovered that if a specific gene located on a non-sex chromosome is turned off, cells in the ovaries of adult female mice turn into cells typically found in testes. Read more…

What happened to being happy to be alive? What’s with making it seem worthless and useless to be old? “Oh, I hear you’re 70 now. Here’s a special pill for you.” Good grief!  

Michael Cook, BioEdge.org

Australian euthanasia activist Dr Philip Nitschke is a busy man in the frantic days before the holiday season begins. He caused outrage this week when he claimed at a seminar on how to kill oneself that elderly couples were buying each other suicide kits as Christmas presents. As he anticipated, his remarks sparked angry responses from Christian and pro-life groups. “A pill to kill yourself and your loved one as a Christmas present is absolutely reprehensible,” said Graham Preston, of the Queensland branch of Right to Life Australia.

Continue reading: http://www.bioedge.org/index.php/bioethics/bioethics_article/8787/

This can’t be a good thing. And why would anyone think that it is?

Pete Chagnon – OneNewsNow -

Fox News has picked up on reports that Kevin Jennings, founder of the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), has been surrounded by controversy concerning his organization as GLSEN has been accused of visiting middle and high schools where spokespersons engage in explicit sexual discussions with students.

In conjunction with the controversial talks, it has been uncovered that GLSEN has recommended an alleged pornographic reading list for underage students. Exact details of the reading list are too explicit for print, but the material includes frank descriptions and the glorification of adult-on-minor homosexual sex.

Continue reading: http://www.onenewsnow.com/Education/Default.aspx?id=819656

Way to go, Dr. Sang-duk Shim and the doctors who have joined you to fight abortion in Korea. Way to be courageous despite opposition on many fronts.

From Mercatornet.com

A Korean gynaecologist explains why he abandoned a lucrative procedure and is campaigning to reduce abortions.

South Korea has one of the highest rates of abortion in the world, even though abortion is technically illegal there except in a few rare circumstances. According to official government figures, there are 340,000 abortions each year, although one parliamentarian has estimated that there may be as many as 1.5 million. At the same time, Korea’s birth rate is the second-lowest in the world – 1.19 births per woman — and some Koreans fear that their very survival as a nation is in doubt.

That is the background for a courageous decision by a 50-year-old Seoul obstetrician and gynaecologist, Dr Sang-duk Shim, to stop doing abortions and to lobby the government for a dramatic reduction. He has even received death threats for his stand. MercatorNet conducted this email interview with him: Read more…

What’s that line in the Bible about those who lead others to sin would be better off not having been born or ought to have a millstone tied around their neck and be thrown into the sea? Whatever it is, what this company is doing is just blatantly wrong. I’d hate to be them when it’s their turn to die and meet their maker.

Carolyn Moynihan

In the middle of the Tiger Woods infidelity furore a website that sells adultery (“an affair to remember” in three months or your $249 back) has been trying to get a Toronto public transport company to run ads on its street cars urging: Life is short. Have an affair.” Read more…

Wow. Some stats on teens lying and stealing and why they do it. Pretty revealing and sad stuff. Parents, beware!

Mark Gregston

…it’s a fact that teenagers today seem to be crossing their fingers behind their back more and more. They are cheating and stealing more, too. The latest “Report Card on the Ethics of American Youth” by the Josephson Institute of Ethics shows teens are lying more often and more easily than ever. The report indicates an increase in lying, cheating, and stealing among youth since 2006, when the report was first published.

Forty-two percent of those surveyed said they lied recently for financial gain. Sixty-four percent said they cheated on a test during the past year, and 38 percent had cheated more than once. Eighty-three percent said they had recently lied to their parents about something significant. Read more…

Margaret Somerville, Mercatornet.com

Both sides of the euthanasia debate claim to be advancing the cause of human dignity. Whom should we believe?

Euthanasia advocates argue respect for human dignity requires that euthanasia be legalized and opponents of euthanasia argue exactly the opposite, that respect for human dignity requires it remain prohibited. In short, the concept of human dignity and what is required to respect it is at the centre of the euthanasia debate, but there is no consensus on what we mean by human dignity, its proper use, or its basis. Read more…

Jared Yee, BioEdge.org

The successful fertilisation of an egg using biological material from two women may have moved the world closer to three-parent babies. Researchers at St Mother Hospital in Kitakyushu, Japan, have experimented with repairing the damaged eggs of older women by using eggs from younger donors. The usefulness of this process is disputed. Some doctors say it could improve chances of fertilisation and prevent genetic defects; others worry that the DNA of three people might lead to genetic problems. Read more…

Charlie Butts – OneNewsNow -

Switzerland has earned a reputation for suicide tourism.

Although assisted suicide is technically illegal in the country, it is tolerated if the person assisting is not doing so for personal profit. But the reputation has prompted the Swiss to crack down, according to media reports. Rita Marker, head of the International Task Force on Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide (ITF), reports that this “crack down” is not as serious as the public may think. Read more…

Manuel and Sophia Corpas, Mercatornet.com

Ever-more sophisticated technology allows us to detect ever more genetic anomalies. What will we do with this knowledge?

One of our biggest worries in the field of genome medicine is the use of prenatal genetics tests to justify the abortion of human embryos. Current technologies allow enhanced detection of genetic abnormalities that a few years ago would have been unthinkable. Read more…