Wesley J. Smith

Monkeys or people?  That’s the choice.  Scientists are hopeful that they are hot on the trail—finally—of a vaccine to thwart HIV. From the Retuers story:Vaccine experts are equally excited about a vaccine that Michael’s team is developing with Harvard University and . . . . Continue Reading »

The ruling by the head of the BC Supreme Court (sitting as a trial judge), granting a constitutional right to assisted suicide because suicide is somehow a right, is being appealed to the BC Court of Appeals. From the press release:The laws surrounding euthanasia and assisted suicide exist to . . . . Continue Reading »

Somebody paid for this study, and apparently it was bogus.  A science study said we are more altruistic if we are at a higher—as in elevation—level.  Now, it appears not. From the Chronicle of Higher Education blog:Uri Simonsohn, the University of Pennsylvania researcher whose . . . . Continue Reading »

The Telegraph has an interesting article out about how mating in the future will be based on compatibility of genetic codes. From, “DNA Testing ‘Will Screen Out Lovers’:”Couples will soon be able to choose their life partner solely based on the compatibility of their genes . . . . Continue Reading »

I wrote today about how the court ruling banning circumcision in Germany violates freedom of religion. I also predicted earlier that the ruling would not stand. My predictions are usually right. German Chancellor Angela Merkel wants the ruling reversed by the German Parliament. From . . . . Continue Reading »

First an Indian “gestational carrier” died in childbirth. Now, we learn that a 17-year-old Indian girl is dead after predators in the IVF industry allowed her to be hyper-ovulated for money three times in 18 months, and she was apparently convinced or coerced by her employer to . . . . Continue Reading »

I will be doing an every-other-Friday column for First Things’ “On the Square,” and am most pleased. Today, I illustrate how bioethical issues have become the battle ground for a secularist assault against freedom of religion, by seeking to shrink the core liberty to a . . . . Continue Reading »

Until very recently, the West saw religious liberty as a weight-bearing pillar of human freedom. Thus, the very first clause of the First Amendment (1789) states, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” More broadly, Article 18 of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) provides … Continue Reading »

I have a piece up on To The Source discussing the serious charge that the Liverpool Care Pathway, intended to ensure that no patient dies in unalleviated pain, has mutated into back door euthanasia.  I explain why palliative sedation is not killing, and then show how what should be a very . . . . Continue Reading »

The New England Journal of Medicine has long advocated assisted suicide in its pages.  It now has a piece supposedly rebutting opponents of legalizing assisted suicide in Oregon.  For example, it says that assisted suicide was not carried out on people with mental illnesses.  How we . . . . Continue Reading »