Kinsley Still Wrong on ESCR [SK]

Journalist Michael Kinsley thinks the pro-life case against embryonic stem cell research is bogus because pro-lifers are inconsistent. That is, because pro-lifers do not oppose IVF technology the way they do ESCR, it follows the case against ESCR collapses.

Steve Weimar gets to the heart of Kinsley's faulty reasoning:

Kinsley makes the dubious claim that not speaking against in-vitro fertilization makes embryonic stem cell research justified. The logical conclusion though from his line of reasoning is that both in vitro and ESCR are wrong, not that both are OK. Secular people argue this way all the time. They try to find an inconsistency and then claim that everything is permissible.

An example of this faulty reasoning is justifying bad behavior (such as sexual promiscuity) for women because men get a pass on the same bad behavior. But just because men do something immoral, doesn’t justify women doing the same immoral activity. Seems to me that the solution is to hold men to the same standard, rather than lowering standards for women.

For Kinsley to win, he must show the human embryos in question are not really human. His latest piece does nothing to advance that proposition; it only clouds the real issue.