Editor's note.

FEW SUBJECTS IN CATHOLIC DOCTRINE ARE AS WIDELY AND VEHEMENTLY contested as are the so-called life issues. Abortion, stem-cell research, contraception and euthanasia all raise hackles when they are debated in Catholic circles. While abortion and contraception have been and will continue to be mainstays on our pages, we decided to look at some of the other life issues in this magazine.

Our lead article, by CFFC board member and theological scholar Sheila Briggs, sets the scene by exploring how the development of a "consistent life ethic" among some progressive Catholics in fact exposed just how inconsistent Catholic teachings on life issues have been. The retreat of natural death due to medical advances has made the debate even more difficult, and Briggs argues that the Catholic hierarchy now seems to treat people who face decisions about life-prolonging medical treatment as though they were fetuses--and not full-fledged persons capable of rational thought.

New areas of research are often the subject of hyperbole and vitriolic debate. Stem-cell research is no exception, with proponents lauding its possibilities and opponents condemning it as eugenic or worse due to its use of human embryos. Ethicist Rosemary Tong examines some of the Catholic-inspired objections to the research and raises pertinent questions about what the real prolife position on such medical research is.

An area that may not seem to be so controversial is fetal surgery. Who, after all, could possibly oppose interventions that can cure disease and correct deformities before a baby is even born? However, sociologist Monica Casper has some concerns, and it's worth paying attention to them. Noting that techniques do not seem to have moved forward all that much since the early days of fetal surgery in the 1980s, she asks whether the potential harm to pregnant women is justified, given the extraordinary degree of risk they are taking in undergoing surgery.

No serious debate about these issues would be complete without a discussion of the key controversy that underlies all arguments about life issues: the concept of personhood. Here we turn to a regular Conscience contributor and the co-author of one of the defining texts on prochoice Catholicism in recent years, noted philosopher Dan Dombrowski. We don't expect everybody to agree with all that we print, but Dan's call for a "rational debate on these issues, and a congenial spirit of toleration for reasonable differences," is one that we fully endorse.

Finally, we include an article on euthanasia. It was clear during the Terri Schiavo case that conservative lawmakers overstepped whatever bounds do exist and in all likelihood paid for it at the polls. Noted researcher of the right Frederick Clarkson investigates those behind that circus.

DAVID J. NOLAN 

Editor