Human Exceptionalism

In 2000, The New England Journal of Medicine reported that patients being euthanized in the Netherlands sometimes experienced significant side effects (apart from death, that is), such as nausea, convulsions, or coma. This belied the assertion oft made by euthanasia proponents that being killed by a doctor necessarily provides the euphemistic “gentle landing” of euthanasia lore. #ad#Responding to the Netherlands report, the NEJM published Read More ›

Petitions have only begun to be gathered to qualify the Missouri Stem Cell and Cures Initiative for November’s ballot, and already the controversy is white hot. Proponents contend that their proposal would merely permit embryonic stem cell research using a technique known as somatic cell nuclear transfer, while also banning human cloning. But opponents insist that the process is human Read More ›

Editor’s Note: The following audio was recorded from a talk given by Wesley Smith at Discovery Institute’s Washington DC office on February 22, 2006. Download Audio MP3 (34.7MB)

This article, published by Agape Press, mentions Discovery Institute Senior Fellow Wesley Smith: Wesley Smith, a senior fellow with the Discovery Institute, says an oath taken by new doctors for centuries is being watered down to allow for more open interpretation. The rest of the article can be found here.

In the court (and courts) of life and death, a little 11-year-old Massachusetts girl named Haleigh Poutre could be the next Terri Schiavo. For those who have not heard the tragic story, Haleigh was beaten nearly to death last September, allegedly by her adoptive mother and stepfather. The beating left her unconscious and barely clinging to life. Within a week or so Read More ›

Three years ago, Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack signed a law banning all human cloning (both for research and for reproduction). But he has just shifted his position 180 degrees, calling upon the state’s legislature to legalize human cloning for biomedical research. But rather than just admit he was wrong to sign the original bill, he has instead lied about the Read More ›

Tuesday’s 6-3 decision by the U.S. Supreme Court preventing the federal government from punishing doctors who prescribe federally controlled substances — narcotics — for suicide is being spun by euthanasia advocates as a big boost for their cause. Never mind that the ruling was very narrow and did not, as proponents claim, “uphold” Oregon’s law. And never mind that Justice Read More ›

The news about Monday’s 6-3 assisted suicide ruling is not as bad as euthanasia opponents might have feared. Indeed, even in the midst of disappointment that Oregon carried the day, there is some moderately good news: Gonzales v. Oregon was not an exercise in judicial activism. The Supreme Court did not issue a sweeping endorsement of physician-assisted suicide. Nor, did Read More ›

This article, published by Time, quotes Discovery Institute Senior Fellow Wesley Smith: But Wesley J. Smith, a Discovery Institute fellow was skeptical: “People are not exactly marching in the streets demanding the right to receive lethal prescriptions,” he said. The rest of the article can be found here.

Between March 2004 and the end of 2005, South Korean veterinarian Woo-Suk Hwang rose from relative obscurity to become the world’s most famous scientist. His rise to international renown began when he reported, in the March 12, 2004, edition of the prestigious peer-reviewed journal Science, to have created the first cloned human embryos and embryonic-stem-cell line. Hwang’s reputation really hit the stratosphere Read More ›