Any legislation which “permits the intentional destruction of human beings at the earliest stages of their existence” is “grossly unethical and socially damaging”.
This is the view of the Galway born Independent senator Ronan Mullen who was speaking following Tuesday’s Supreme Court ruling that a woman cannot have three frozen embryos implanted against the wishes of her estranged husband.
He is now calling for legislation to be introduced to protect human embryo from deliberate destruction as he believes the court ruling means a human embryo “does not enjoy legal protection prior to implantation”.
Sen Mullen has proposed a stem cell research (protection of human embryos ) bill which would prohibit any research involving or deriving from the destruction of human embryos.
“I call on the Government to adopt this model, especially in the light of the progress made with ethically uncontroversial alternatives to embryo destructive research,” he said. “Separate legislation will be required to deal with issues arising with assisted human reproduction.”
