The Morality of Human Stem Cell Research

I am attracted by the position of Gene Outka, Dwight Professor of Philosophy and Christian Ethics at Yale University. Outka "take[s] conception and all that it alone makes possible as *the* point at which one should ascribe a judgment of irreducible value." Outka opposes the creation of embryos for use in stem cell research. But Outka would permit the use of "excess" embryos, i.e., embryos that are left over after fertility treatments have been completed. I would appreciate some help in thinking further about Outka's argument. See Gene Outka, "The Ethics of Human Stem Cell Research," in Brent Waters & Ronald Cole-Turner, eds., God and the Embryo: Religious Voices on Stem Cells and Cloning 29 (2003).

Michael