This letter was sent to all members of parliament re Bill C-13. (Letters to the Editor).

As the final vote on the Assisted Human Reproduction Act (Bill C-13) approaches, we wish to pose a question. When did your life begin? Please consider this question carefully. Admittedly, it is a very personal question. Yet it also bears directly, we submit, on the legislation at hand.

If you answer the question as we do, you agree that, for each of us, life begins at conception. That answer is not surprising. For probably most reasonable people, irrespective of their views on abortion, would not deny that each of us once was a baby in our mother's womb, and that our life journey began as a little embryo when an egg from our mother was fertilized by a sperm from our father. Or as the Canadian Medical Association puts it, "the baby develops from a single cell at conception" (Complete Book of Mother and Baby Care, 1999, p. 14).

If you agree with us that life begins at conception, it seems to us you should also logically agree with the following proposition: Every time someone refers to a "human embryo", they are referring, not to a thing, but to a somebody.

The basic problem with Bill C-13, as we see it, is precisely that it does not treat the human embryo as a somebody, but rather as raw material for medical research. For that single but grave humanitarian reason, we u:rge you to oppose it.

As you know, presently Canada has a voluntary moratorium on stem cell research using human embryos. It is apparent that one of the main goals of the legislation is to end the moratorium and encourage this type of research--albeit subject to regulation--for the medical promise that some believe it holds. The defeat of the bill would signal that the killing of embryos for research is still not acceptable in this country and that the voluntary moratorium should continue.

No one objects to stem cell research per se. In the case of adult and umbilical stem cells, there is no ethical problem. Since that research not only has enormous promise but already is yielding important and ever increasing medical applications, it merits government support. The problem is only with research that entails killing some (embryonic) human beings in order to use their stem cells. The end does not justify the means.

When it comes to killing innocent human beings for the sake of medical research, half-way limiting measures, i.e., beginning a regulated practice through this legislation, will not do. If human beings are somebodies, treating them under any circumstances as mere biological material flagrantly contravenes human dignity. We hope you agree.

On humanitarian grounds, therefore, we urge you to vote against Bill C-13. Human embryos are little somebodies, to be sure. But treating every human being as a somebody is also surely a core principle for any public policy worthy of consideration.

Yours sincerely,

Peter Ryan, Executive Director, New Brunswick Right to Life; Past President, LifeCanada, (506-459-8990)

Jakki Jeffs, President, Life Canada (5 19-824-7797)

Dr. Darrel Reid, President, Focus on the Family Canada (604-539-7936)

Most Rev. Adam Exner, OMI, Archbishop of Vancouver (604-683-0281)

Will Johnston, MD, President, Canadian Physicians for Life (604-325-4155)

Lorraine McNamara, President, REAL Women of Canada (613-236-4001)

Roy Beyer, President, Canada Family Action Coalition (403-295-2159)

Ted Byfield, Report Magazine (780-487-6474)

Dennis Savoie, Director, Int'l Board, Knights of Columbus (506-460-6262)

Rev. Alphonse de Valk, CSB, Editor, Catholic Insight (416-204-9601)

Gwen Landolt, REAL Women of Canada (613-236-4001)

Brian Rushfeldt, Exec. Dir. Canada Family Action Coalition (403-295-2159)

Most Rev. David Monroe, Bishop of Kamloops (250-376-3351)

Jean-Marie LeBlanc, State Deputy, New Brunwswick Knights of Columbus (506-576-6723)

Joanne Byfield, President, Alberta Pro-Life (780-939-6365)

Most Rev. Eugene J. Cooney, Bishop of Nelson (250-354-4740)

Donald DeMarco, Author, Professor of Philosophy (519-742-6593)

Most Rev. Raymond Roussin, Bishop of Victoria.