The Story
Bioethics Speaker Wesley J. Smith Makes Case for All Human Life
"Does being human matter?"
Wesley Smith posed this question last Wednesday in the Campus Center Little Theatre during his lecture entitled "Bioethics: Creating a Disposable Caste of People?"
Wesley Smith spoke to about 50 students of the College regarding the controversial current progress of bioethics. Smith contested that the majority of the bioethics mentality leaves human life without any intrinsic value.
According to Smith, bioethics philosophy has begun to decide which humans have greater or lesser value. He gives the example that those without certain cognitive capacities are called "vegetables."
"Calling someone a vegetable is just like the n-word," Smith said, "Its a term meant to demean…just as discriminatory, but with different victims."
Smith finds that this discrimination rests in contention with the United States Declaration of Independence, which asserts that all people are inherently equal.
Adding to this argument, Smith finds a central problem with bioethics in its "social definition rather than a biological definition" of life and death, allowing someone in a "persistent vegetative state" to be deemed a "non-person."
Smith exemplified this idea with the philosophy of leading bioethics researcher Peter Singer. Singers definition of human life holds that someone must be "self-aware over time." Under this definition, the unborn, those with certain disabilities and newborns can be used as instruments; they are no longer people, but harvestable commodities.
Smith discussed how this definition affects areas of bioethics like embryonic stem cell research.
The appeal of embryonic stem cell research is the potential for these stem cells to be plural potent, meaning they can be formed into any type of cell. The ethical issue here lies in whether or not an embryo, at the blastocyst stage when it would be used, is a human life.
"Science tells us that new human life begins when conception is completed, but science cant tell us if it that matters," Smith said. "Thats what we have to decide."
Smith also cited instrumental uses of human life in the areas of cloning, fetal farming for the harvesting of organs and euthanasia.
Some aspects of bioethics, Smith conceded, are very promising and will make excellent contributions to humanity.
"There are now cancer drugs tailored to a persons unique genetic makeup," Smith said, "and adult stem cell research is remarkable. Fat stem cells have treated heart disease in pigs. Thats great!"
"None of these [cancer drugs, adult stem cell] are controversial; no human life is at risk" Smith said, "The controversial areas [of bioethics] are small but create a lot of noise."
He stated that most people support the controversial ideas for good reasons, but without realizing the affect they will have on human life as a whole.
"People cry out against big oil and big pharma, but big biotech is just peachy keen," Smith said.
But Smith did make the point that many unlikely characters are opposed to these controversial areas of bioethics, and that this also signals a problem.
France, Canada, Norway and Australia, for example, have all outlawed human cloning. An organization entitled Hands Off Our Ovaries unites pro-choice women with pro-life women against egg harvesting, which they feel to be an exploitation of and endangerment to women.
"This is not a left-right issue; this is a human rights issue," Smith said.
Smith gave his rationale for the need to halt this progression of bioethics: the exceptional value of human life and need for acceptance of all diversity.
"We are different than any other creatures on this planet. We have a responsibility. We are different from the animals because we have the responsibility to protect the animals. We have the responsibility to stop global warming, to protect the earth. We are exceptional," Smith said.
"We say we believe in diversity-unless its with a disability. This leads us to a place where we become self-loathing if we dont attain perfection. And it becomes neurosis if it leads us to eradicate certain people" Smith said.
Before speaking on this topic, Wesley Smith was an attorney but "burnt out" arguing cases which he did not always personally support.
"Now I get to argue for something Im passionate about," Smith said.
Smith has appeared in such publications as Newsweek, The New York Times, Forbes, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today and on Nightline, Good Morning America and Crossfire. He is the author of 11 books; his most recent is "Consumers Guide to a Brave New World."