As R David Muir, Public Policy Executive Director at the Evangelical Alliance, put it this week: "Just because science can do something doesn't mean that it should, and when rights begin to be more associated with adult preferences than protection of the weak and vulnerable, then we should be concerned about the consequences for society."
He continues: "The drive for human improvement must not be allowed to trump the need to protect against harm and it is worrying to note the prevalence today of uncertainty and inconsistency relating to where ethical boundaries should be drawn, or indeed whether there should be any ethical boundaries at all.
"There is a growing disparity between what scientists and politicians are promoting and the opinion of the general public, who are increasingly uncomfortable with a utilitarian approach to human life."
The application of ethics to science may feel like the hangman's noose to some researchers, yet it is necessary to ensure that scientific processes do not become simply a means to an end, with little or no consideration for what happens in the middle, or at whose cost progress is made.
All could seem lost, were it not for a number of Christians like Mr Muir who have embraced positively the challenges that lie ahead in awakening this nation to the preciousness of life, even at its conceptual stages.
Dan Boucher, Director of Parliamentary Affairs for CARE is another. "May 20th 2008 was a very bad day in the history of our nation. I hope that it will serve to provoke Christians to engage in the public square with greater energy and wisdom and that God will turn the tide," he said.
Indeed. The past week might have seen one disheartening blow after another for Christians, pro-life campaigners and of course the unborn child, but it is encouraging that Christians are refusing to throw in the towel when it comes to campaigning for life.
"'I have reserved for myself seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to Baal.' So too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace." (NIV Romans 11.4 - 5)
