The Defense of the Embryo

Robert P. George & Christopher Tollefsen, 2008, Embryo: A Defense of Human Life, New York; Double Day.

Robert George is Professor of Jurisprudence and Director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions at Princeton University and a member of the President's Council on Bioethics. Christopher Tollefsen is Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of South Carolina.

Questions about abortion and stem-cell research have created seemingly unbridgeable gaps between Americans. Should faith-based views be considered when deciding public policy? Using up-to-date research, George and Tollefsen show that embryos are humans beings from conception; and argue against "moral dualism" and the utilitarian worldview that places society's "greater good" above the life of the fetus.

This books differs from others in the sense that the authors argue from the perspective of public policy making in the United States. They argued against embryonic stem cell research and remind the public that the state has an "ethical and moral obligation to protect embryonic human beings in just the same manner that it protects every other human beings..." This is an irony when there is a call by some Americans for the separation of church and state. However, it seems that when it suits some people's purposes, the state should fight for their causes. The King in the musical The King and I would throw his hands up in despair, "It's a puzzlement!" I agree with you, dear king.