Wesley J. Smith

This is a sad but glorious story of selfless maternal love, which I think, would have once been the expected course: A doctor recounts a long ago decision of a woman diagnosed with brain cancer to delay surgery in order to bring her baby to birth. From the story : For the neurosurgeon, the verdict . . . . Continue Reading »

In the next few weeks, if all goes according to plan, you will notice some changes around here at SHS. My site will be added to the First Things family of blogs, which should increase our already steadily growing traffic and may—I’m not sure about this—change our look. I believe . . . . Continue Reading »

This is a sad but glorious story of selfless maternal/paternal love, but I think that at one time, it would have been the expected course: A doctor recounts the decision of a woman diagnosed with brain cancer to delay surgery in order to bring her baby to birth. From the story:For the neurosurgeon, . . . . Continue Reading »

Abortion was supposed to liberate women and protect them from unwanted pregnancies. But with prenatal testing and all, it is increasingly being used as a eugenic search and destroy tool to eliminate unwanted types of children prior to birth. In other words, eugenic abortion mixed with . . . . Continue Reading »

Abortion was supposed to liberate women and protect them from unwanted pregnancies. But with prenatal testing and all, it is increasingly being used as a eugenic search and destroy tool to eliminate unwanted types of children prior to birth. In other words, eugenic abortion mixed with . . . . Continue Reading »

Human exceptionalism is under furious assault on many fronts, with advocates who seek to dismantle it, zealously looking for any and every sign that we are no different, really, from animals.One of the newest memes in this regard is that animals are moral beings—just like us. I bring this up . . . . Continue Reading »

I have oft asserted that the embryonic stem cell debate is not the far end of the instrumental use of unborn humans, but the launching pad. Once the principle is established that early embryos can be used as a natural resource, it won’t be long until gestated nascent human life is also . . . . Continue Reading »

A tattooed man plans to donate his skin to the Australian National Gallery when he dies. From the story: An Australian man whose body is covered in tattoos has pledged to donate his skin to the National Gallery when he dies. Retired teacher Geoff Ostling displays his tattooed skin at his home in . . . . Continue Reading »

When science becomes ideology or quasi-religion, it ceases to be science and becomes something else. The brilliant political analyst Michael Barone has weighed in on this concern in a new column (which also deals with gun control, beyond our scope here). He notes that despite the constant . . . . Continue Reading »

This gets a bit complicated: In mice, scientists used adult stem cells to prevent embryonic stem cells used to treat spinal cord injury from forming tumors. From the story:Transplanted embryonic stem cells are recognized as a potential treatment for patients suffering from the effects of spinal cord . . . . Continue Reading »