Right-Wing “Pro-Lifers”: Irony Impaired

If you haven’t heard, a U.S. Federal Court trial judge has blocked federal funding for stem cell research because the embryos are destroyed. Nevermind the thousands of lives that could be saved from this research or the fact that these embryos will be destroyed as biological waste if not implanted in a womb. I understand that the judge believes he is just following the letter of the law, for which he can’t be faulted, but this sort of law is insane.

The right-wing, for the most part, is vehemently opposed to stem cell research because it destroys an embryo. I suppose at least they are consistent in their anti-choice/life stance, but that doesn’t stop them from being ignorant. As a friend pointed out, if we are going to stop stem-cell research on these embryos, we really should just stop these embryos from being created in the first place, which means no more artificial insemination fertility treatments. These embryos come about because a couple has trouble conceiving. So they get a doctor to extract the woman’s eggs and then take sperm and create a zygote in a dish. They generally make lots of the little zygotes because they freeze better than just eggs. Then they implant a couple in the woman’s womb so she can have a baby or two. The embryos being used for stem cell research are the other dozen that the couple don’t want to use to make babies, because let’s face it, what normal family can care for 12 kids?

There are a few options here: 1) The embryos can be kept frozen in perpetuity and after a period of time will lose viability; 2) the embryos can be destroyed as biological waste if the couple doesn’t want to use them; 3) the embryos can be used by researchers to cure any one of the thousands of diseases and genetic disorders that cause millions of people around the world pain and death; 4) we can stop the creation of these unwanted embryos by outlawing artificial insemination. If they right-wing were actually pro-life, they would prefer proposition #3 because millions of lives could be saved. In order to not be hypocrites, the right-wing should be rallying for the 4th proposition because that is the only one where a "life" is not created and destroyed. But we all know they are not pro-life and they are in fact the definition of hypocrites, and as a result they will never support the latter 2 options. That doesn’t mean they openly support one of the first 2, they just don’t want there to be a benefit from the embryos.

While I support the life-saving benefits derived from researching on embryos, the right-wing would rather die than destroy an embryo, which is made of a few thousands cells. They must be irony impaired because there is no other explanation.