Mary Jo and Leslie, both Presbyterians, were confronted with the same agonizing dilemma. They were pregnant with fetuses that had major defects, and each woman had to decide whether to give birth or terminate her pregnancy. More →

April 15, 2005

MRI technology is currently used to gain insight into how behaviors and thoughts function biologically, and might one day lead to the ability to predict future behavior. However, the potential for such technology leads to troubling ethical questions. More →

June 18, 2003

Read excerpts from R&E’s interview about health care ethics with Dr. Fitzhugh Mullan, a pediatrician at the Upper Cardozo Community Health Center in Washington, D.C., clinical professor of pediatrics and public health at George Washington University, editor of the health policy journal HEALTH AFFAIRS, and author of BIG DOCTORING IN AMERICA. More →

November 8, 2002

  BOB ABERNETHY, anchor: Many scientists say the most promise for curing various diseases is to clone human embryos. Not clone them to create a new human being, reproductive cloning, but clone them to cure the sick; therapeutic cloning. But … More →

July 12, 2002

Read commentary on human cloning, gene therapy, and other ethical issues from five members of President Bush’s Council on Bioethics. More →

January 18, 2002

In France, the government has stepped into a furor over whether there is or should be a right not to be born. The highest court implied there should be, but the National Assembly said no. The issue came to a head when the court awarded money on behalf of a handicapped child, saying that he could claim damages because doctors had not detected his disability in the womb. More →

January 18, 2002

When a person has a religious experience, what happens within the brain? What kind of changes take place? In one experiment, brain scans examine the parts of the brain that are activated during prayer. In another, mystical and religious experiences are simulated by using bursts of electrical impulses. These experiments have created no small amount of controversy. More →

November 9, 2001

  BOB ABERNETHY: As President Bush approaches a decision on whether the Federal government should fund research on embryonic human stem cells, religious groups are on both sides of the debate. For many, the fundamental issue is the moral status … More →

July 27, 2001

  BOB ABERNETHY: Sometime this month, scientists say they will announce that they have mapped almost all the human genome, the inherited instructions that tell our bodies what to do. The promise of the new knowledge is so vast, some … More →

June 16, 2000

With modern neonatal technology and under federal law, doctors can keep alive tiny premature babies, even if the babies’ parents want to let them die. But often those babies survive to grow up significantly damaged and in pain. Should they be kept alive? Who should decide? More →

October 22, 1999