Does Ethics Apply in a Petri Dish?
By Center for Bioethics Fellow Dr. Heather Kuruvilla: Most people think of cell biologists as bench scientists who grow things in little dishes. As a university professor training future cell biologists, I wondered about my students’ perceptions of the need for an ethical framework. I asked my advanced students for their feedback on the pressing [...]
Center Highlights Top Student Papers in Bioethics
The Fall Edition of CedarEthics Online, our Web-based journal of top undergraduate student papers in bioethics, is now available. This edition features two new contributions : 1) Tia Zirkle’s piece, “The Tao and the Art of Feminine Beauty,” is a thoughtful reflection on Elizabeth Elliot, C.S. Lewis, natural law, and femininity. 2) Christina Kinch, in [...]
Conscience Rights Under Attack
The Council of Europe, composed of 47 member countries, will soon debate a resolution to “regulate the right of conscientious objection” in health care. If the resolution passes, this would have chilling effects for European health care professionals. The measure outlines three key provisions in regard to abortion: 1) The obligation to perform the procedure [...]
Civil Disobedience: Has it Come to This?
Followers of the Center for Bioethics and this blog know that I have endorsed and signed the Manhattan Declaration, a Christian statement of solidarity in defense of the sanctity of life, traditional marriage, and religious liberty. In previous posts (1/10/2010 and 7/06/2010), I have pointed out that speaking out for life, families, and conscience may [...]
Freedom of Worship is Not Enough
Followers of the Center for Bioethics know that I have signed and endorsed the Manhattan Declaration (see A Christian Call to Action earlier this year). This public statement, drafted by prominent theologians and religious leaders, endorses three primary principles: 1) the sanctity of human life; 2) the dignity of marriage as the conjugal union of [...]
Are You a Speciesist?
Hello, my name is Dennis, and I suffer from speciesism, a terrible “moral flaw” and an “addictive condition.” People with this condition think that human beings are somehow special, and entitled to more rights than other species. For more information on these matters, read the “confession” of my fellow speciesist, Ben Mitchell. His story is [...]
Do We Have Free Will?
Now wait a minute, you may say. That’s a silly question. Of course we have free will — we all make choices, and we are accountable for our actions. Hmm, not so fast. Some claim that only physical and naturalistic forces are at work in the universe. What we perceive as free will is merely [...]
A Christian Call to Action
As we begin the New Year, I have mixed feelings about the ethical direction of American society – a curious combination of unease and hope. Unease, because it appears that Congress and the courts are increasing their efforts to devalue human life and to attack the family. But I also have hope, in the growing [...]
Womb Transplants Now a Step Closer
It’s a development that could take your breath away, and raises interesting and profound questions about our reproductive future. Researchers in London performed womb transplants in five rabbits, a procedure that was successful in two of them. Similar work has also been done recently in other mammals. The surgical technique involved careful connections of blood [...]
A Health Care Horror Story
Catherina Cenzon-DeCarlo is a 35 year-old married mother who works as a nurse at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York. She has worked in the operating room since 2004. When she first applied for her position at Mount Sinai, her supervisor asked if she would be willing to participate in abortions. Ms. Cenzon-DeCarlo, a [...]
CedarEthics
On Bioethics and the Defense of Human Life
CedarEthics is proudly powered by WordPress.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 License.
Off-center theme courtesy of Real Estate Online Marketing Coach