Andrew Sullivan

Andrew Sullivan is an independent journalist and author of Virtually Normal: An Argument About Homosexuality.

Arguments that early human embryos—which are destroyed during embryonic stem cell (ES) research—are not human beings and can be subjected to experimentation are flawed. First, the claim that early human embryos, or blastocysts, are not human beings because they cannot live outside the womb or without medical help leads inevitably to the conclusion that adults who are on life support are not human either. Second, arguments that blastocysts are not human beings because they lack sentience opens the door to experimentation upon adult human beings with Alzheimer’s or other debilitating diseases. Ultimately, blastocysts deserve all the rights of human beings, especially the right to respect and dignity.

In one of the creepiest scenarios...