The Beginning of Human Life on Frist: "Double talk...but we'll take it"

Mike "the token conservative" of The Beginning of Human Life: blog appears to be sitting on the fence again. He notes Senator Frist's recent departure from the Republican reservation and sees this as an example of "this issue being discussed with less of an emphasis placed on political leaning and more on getting things done.". He also observes Frist's own self-contradiction, but appears to miss that:

"I am pro-life," Mr. Frist says in the speech, arguing that he can reconcile his support for the science with his own Christian faith. "I believe human life begins at conception."

But at the same time, he says, "I also believe that embryonic stem cell research should be encouraged and supported."

If Senator Frist believes that "human life begins at conception", and he also believes that ESCR "should be encouraged and supported", then he believes that it's morally permissible to experiment on a class of people even if it kills them. This is not a position that any serious prolife support would consider. It sounds more like the vague non-committment to any principle that presidential hopeful John Kerry uttered during the 2004 Presidential campaigne. Frist has fried himself from primary consideration in 2008.

Has our society's grasp of right and wrong so diminished that we honestly believe it's right to experiment on those we regard as human beings even if it kills them? If more people accept Senator Frist's reasoning, then I shudder as I recall Thomas Jefferson's admonition: I tremble for my country when I realize God is just."

Mike believes that Senator Frist's change of position indicates that the debate has now gone from partisan positioning to the practical consideration of "getting things done". I don't share his conclusion. Rather, I think Senator Frist's change of position reflects the growing acceptance for ESCR on the part of the public. It isn't hard to understand why it's caught on. MSM and Reasonable supporters of ESCR have pounded the message over and over: ESCR will cure the sick. ESCR can be done with embryo's that will just be thrown away, anyway. ESCR has too much promise to be held back by religious belief that a clump of cells i s human.

The Fools that support ASCR, however, have not pushed their agenda nearly as hard. Additionally, MSM has conveniently ignored breakthroughs in this research that led people to support ESCR. However, private money still pours into ASCR. This morally appropriate research has led to the development of over 84 successful treatments, while ESCR has lead to none. In fact, under the best of conditions, ESCR may lead to a treatment in over 23 years!.

Somehow, MSM and ESCR forget to mention this.

The irresponsibility of so many on the SCR issue have led our society--and the world--to this Huxlian precipice. We're all too ready to throw ourselves off in the name of "compassion." For a while, we may feel good about ourselves because we're "helping people." The trouble won't begin as we fall, however. The trouble begins--and ends--when we hit the bottom.