This is a 5 day old blastocyst, which is what medical professionals and most people able to think and reason would call it. President Bush, not falling into either of those categories, would prefer to call it an “innocent human life” and “a unique human life with inherent dignity and matchless value.” These poor blastocysts sitting on ice must be protected from harm, according to Mr. Bush, and so he used his very first veto since taking office to do just that by striking down the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act … legislation supported by the majority of Americans.

I look forward to hearing all the heartwarming stories of the adoptions of the 400,000 “human” lives that are currently sitting in freezers across the United States, some 8,800 of which are slated to be discarded. Another 11,200 had been designated, by the human adults whose genes created them, for scientific research, Seeing as that may not be possible now, I would imagine many of them will also fall into the “to be discarded” file. Won’t someone think of these 20,000 helpless frozen blastocysts?! And what about the blastocysts which are produced in human wombs every day of every year and fail to implant in uteri, disappearing silently and invisibly into sewer systems every month?! It’s estimated that some 5 million “innocent human lives” are lost in this manner every year! Won’t someone think of the blastocysts? Something must be done to protect those lost lives as well!

Lest we forget there are, by some estimates, 150,000 living, breathing children with ten fingers and ten toes, functioning brains and beating hearts, waking up right now in the United States who are still waiting to be adopted. You don’t hear too much about them, do you? Children like Ernest or Jordanna or Charles. No, it’s the blastocysts sitting in freezers that must be protected for their potential human lives and possible adoption. Yes indeed, I do look forward to the coming of the web sites featuring lists of adoptable blastocysts. I’m certain the photos are going to be heart-wrenching, and everyone will rush out to save those poor frozen collections of cells while completely ignoring the children currently capable of wishing for a family of their very own.