Montevideo, Uruguay, Jul 22, 2009 / 11:55 am
The John Paul II Institute of Bioethics of the Archdiocese of Montevideo has questioned a proposed bill by the Uruguayan Senate that “implicitly allows the destruction of human embryos to obtain stem cells, in violation of the first of all human rights: the right to life.”
Article 4 of the law would permit the use of embryonic stem cells for scientific purposes, which implies the destruction of newly conceived human embryos.
The institute said the use of embryonic stem cells or of cells derived from them “poses serious problems from the point of view of cooperation in evil and scandal.”
It called on lawmakers to modify the measure in order to prevent any inclusion in national law of this “grave attack against human dignity.”