The prophet Stanley

I once heard or read a story that Stanley Hauerwas, at a panel on the ethics of scientific research using aborted fetuses, asked a proponent of the research, “If it turned out that fetuses were a delicacy, would it be okay to eat them?” Obviously a kind of reductio ad absurdum, right?

Well, the problem with reductio ad absurdum arguments is that, sooner or later, you’ll find someone willing to embrace the absurdum.

To wit:

Britons desperate to halt the ageing process are being injected with the stem cells of aborted foetuses at a clinic that charges £15,000 for a controversial new cosmetic treatment. Despite warnings from biologists in the UK that the process is unproven and could be harmful, dozens of British women have flown to Barbados in the hope that the injections will make them forever young – and possibly even boost their sex drive.

(Link via The American Scene)