In the comments section of last night’s rant about stem cells, Krista posted a link to this Michael Kinsely piece outlining the false controversy that has been created regarding stem cell research. All in all, it was a great read, but it did contain this paragraph:
Even strong believers in abortion rights (I’m one) ought to acknowledge and respect the moral sincerity of many right-to-lifers. I cannot share—or even fathom—their conviction that a microscopic dot—as oblivious as a rock, more primitive than a worm—has the same human rights as anyone reading this article. I don’t have their problem with the question of when human life begins. (When did “human” life begin during evolution? Obviously, there is no magic point. But that doesn’t prevent us from claiming humanity for ourselves and denying it to the embryolike entities we evolved from.) Nevertheless, abortion opponents deserve respect for more than just their right to hold and express an opinion we disagree with. Excluding, of course, the small minority who believe that their righteousness puts them above the law, sincere right-to-lifers deserve respect as that rarity in modern American politics: a strong interest group defending the interest of someone other than themselves.
Evolution? What is that?
Seriously, when you are dealing with a group of people who think Adam and Eve rode to school uphill both ways on the backs of dinosaurs through the cold snows of the ice age, the evolution argument falls flat.