The Struggle for a Moral Bioethical Sector.

Editor's note. As we approach this year's National Right to Life Convention, it reminded me of a great speech that Wesley Smith delivered in 2007. The following are a few excerpts from Mr. Smith's remarkable address to pro-lifers in Kansas City.

If you paid attention to the media you would think that those who oppose embryonic stem cell research and human cloning, genetic engineering, and fetal farming are "anti-science." But this is not a science debate. It's a debate about ethics. It's a debate about morality. It's a debate about what is right and what is wrong. That is beyond the purview of science.

Science can tell us that an embryo is a distinct human organism. It cannot tell us, however, what moral value this entity should be accorded. That issue, and it's a crucial issue, is one of philosophy, values, religion, and ethics. It is a different area of human thinking and endeavor. Science can tell us what the organism is. It cannot tell us what it's worth.

Science is in danger of devolving into a special interest that uses all the tools of the trade to gain a blank check. What is being asked for in this debate over embryonic stem cells research and cloning is not just a financial blank check, although that's a huge part of it, but also an ethical blank check. But science without ethics can become monstrous.

The Intrinsic Value of Human Life

Human life must have intrinsic value simply because it's human or none of us is safe. Because otherwise it means you have to earn your value and who decides who is valuable and who is not is a matter of power, instead of a given. And that is what we are fighting against.

Science can tell us what is, but it can't tell us good from bad, right from wrong. Therefore it is not anti-science to oppose embryonic stem cell research and human cloning. It ...