Deep down the inner conscience is still speaking

I found this article very surprising, but it does show that the conscience we are all born with continues to speak – even as we continue to try and dull its voice.

Fertility Clinics Vary on Embryo Disposal

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Published: September 17, 2004

Filed at 8:42 p.m. ET

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The nation’s fertility clinics vary widely when it comes to how they perform one of the most delicate aspects of their jobs: disposing of unused frozen human embryos that were created to help infertile women become pregnant.

In a survey believed to be the first of its kind, 217 in vitro fertilization clinics across the country described the variety of methods they use to dispose of the frozen clusters of cells, which are the size of a dot and incapable of living outside a womb.

The reverence that some clinics gave to the task surprised researchers at the University of Pennsylvania and Rutgers University.

Seven clinics said they performed a quasi-religious ceremony, including a prayer, for each embryo they destroyed.

Seven others took the technically unnecessary step of culturing the cells in a lab dish, then allowing them to multiply on their own, briefly, before they perish.

Four insisted that, whatever method was chosen for disposal, the patient be present when it happens. Others barred them from being in the room, or recommended that they be uninvolved.

University of Pennsylvania bioethicist Arthur Caplan said the survey results, published last month in the journal Politics and the Life Sciences, show that the clinics have a level of moral sensitivity unrealized by the public.

“I don’t think anyone who deals with these frozen embryos considers them to be persons,” Caplan said. “But I think that they feel they are deserving of respect … They see the potential for life in this material.”

Mark Shea was the source blog for this article.

Please feel free to leave a comment under the posting, or sign my Spiritbook (guestbook). You can chat with me on the tag board to the right!