Human embryos are human life

Re “The doctor is ... in,” editorial, Aug. 2

I agree with your point that Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist’s reasoning in coming to support embryonic stem cell research is illogical. As you remark, “If the embryo is human life, destroying it isn’t acceptable no matter how promising the potential for cures.”

But where is your follow-up on that sentence? One may argue about whether embryos are people entitled to legal protections. This is a question on which federal and state laws are very divided, granting such protections in some instances (such as the murder of pregnant women) and not others.

However, one can hardly argue that human embryos are not human life. What are they if not human life? Does that not mean that this kind of research is by definition unacceptable and should therefore be prohibited?

What society allows the death of one class of humans for the cure of another class of humans?

MICHEL VAN DER HOEK

Anoka, Minn.