The destruction of human life by Embryonic Stem Cell Research is not a bug. It’s a feature.
The purpose of ESCR is to advance a utilitarian argument for making decisions about human life. Whereas the old Roe vs. Wade arguments were all about the rights of one weighed against the rights of another, the ESCR argument explicity weighs the value of a form of human life against the societal benefit that might be derived from destroying that life. The Nazis used to make arguments like that all the time, but after WWII, such things fell out of fashion, for some reason.
But utilitarian argument is back now. And just in time, because we are going to have to make a lot of decisions about unplugging Grandma from her machines, soon. We are going to have to weigh Grandma’s life value against the expenditure of government funds. I think we all know how that argument is going to come down...
And Embryonic Stem Cell Research was the thin edge of the wedge. That is what it was about all along. Nobody ever gave a damn about supposed “cures”, so nobody is particularly concerned that they failed to materialize.
Yes, we are back to the very same issues because we are back to the same for of government of Hitlers times.