In early July, it was announced that scientists at the Jones Institute for Reproductive Medicine at Eastern Virginia Medical School (EVMS) were creating human embryos solely for the purpose of killing them to obtain stem cells. They took 168 donor eggs, fertilized 110 of them with donor sperm, and grew 40 of them to the blastocyst stage. Of these 40 unborn children, 18 had harvestable inner masses that resulted in three stem cell lines.

“This is really ghoulish — creating human embryos for the specific purpose of destroying them,’’ said Douglas Johnson, legislative director for National Right to Life. Richard Doerflinger of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops called the work unconscionable, and said that it “crosses a very important line in terms of treating life merely as an instrument for others.”

How did we ever get to this point?

Long-time members of the Virginia Society for Human Life will know that the Jones Institute has been playing with life for a long time. Over twenty years ago, VSHL raised strong concerns about the in vitro fertilization taking place at the Jones Institute. As with the current research, the objectives then were worthy – helping infertile couples to have babies – but we were concerned, among other things, about the multiples embryos that would be created and what would happen to these tiny human beings. The VSHL Tidewater Chapter led the opposition to this work, but we were ridiculed as extremists for voicing concerns about the endless possibilities that embryonic human beings could be neglected, abused, or killed during in vitro experiments.

Chuck Dean was Tidewater Chapter Chairman at that time. He recalls that embryonic human beings created in other laboratories around the world were being treated like objects of science rather than as human beings and was concerned the same would be true in Norfolk. He was given assurances to the contrary. Dr. Georgeanna Jones, co-director of the project, said that “all fertilized eggs will be reimplanted into the uterus and have a chance to survive.”

Chuck Dean was also concerned about the potential for damage or death to these tiny humans from freezing or thawing, if the embryos were frozen so that parents could have a chance for a later baby. Dr. Howard Jones, speaking of the embryonic human beings to be created in his laboratory, said, “None will be frozen for scientific research.”

Whatever the initial intention of the Joneses, once the creation of these tiny humans was begun, the slope quickly became very slippery. There have been recent estimates of well over 100,000 frozen embryos currently stored in in vitro fertilization clinics in this country. Now, with the July announcement, the ride down the slope continues even further.

Commenting recently on the current situation, Mr. Dean said, “The recent announcement that EVMS has created embryonic human beings for the express purpose of using them for stem cell research, condemning them to laboratory death in the process, just confirms our worst fear: that those promoting such experiments in vitro ascribe little, if any, value to the humanity of the embryonic human beings so created.”

NRLC’s Doug Johnson noted: “Those who have advocated destructive embryonic stem cell research have been assuring people and assuring President Bush that they only want to kill the so-called leftover embryos. This report shows how phony those assurances are.”

This research “shows the slippery slope in action,” said Richard Doerflinger. “Once clinics get used to the idea of research on spare embryos, they will become desensitized enough to consider creating embryos solely to be destroyed.”

Governor Orders Investigation

Meanwhile, Virginia Governor Jim Gilmore has ordered an investigation of the Jones Institute clinic to make sure that no state funds are being spent for research on stem cells from embryos created for that purpose. Louis F. Rossiter, Virginia’s Secretary of Health and Human Resources, said he wants to make sure that the research there does not violate the state law that prohibits human cloning. He said he also wants to ensure that there is a “firewall” between state-funded programs at EVMS and the Jones Institute to prevent taxpayer dollars from being spent on the creation and destruction of embryos.