In episodes 106 and 107 of Bioethics on Air, “Changing the Messaging and Mechanisms of Plan B,” Joe Zalot interviews John Brehany, director of institutional relations at The National Catholic Bioethics Center, regarding the revised messaging for Plan B, which was published by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on December 23, 2022 and stated that the medication “will not affect an existing pregnancy.” Brehany explains that this label change may be premature and elaborates on the moral challenge that will result from this revision.

Scientists Move Closer to “Synthetic” Human Embryos

A team from the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel, has reported that it has differentiated naive and primed human pluripotent stem cells into trophoblast cells. The article detailing the work of Sergey Viukov and colleagues was published in an early November 2022 issue of the journal Stem Cell Reports. The authors state that their research will allow for the study of placental development and disorders in vitro. More controversially, they also aim to develop human “synthetic” embryos using these results.

Guest UserJanuary 18, 2023stem cell research, beginning-of-life issues

Texas Defends Life and Sovereignty Post Dobbs

In the moments following the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision this past summer, a whole host of state laws that had lain dormant since Roe v. Wade (1973) stirred awake. The next several months saw a number of these old legislative documents gain the force of law in their respective states once more. Many organizations—political, medical, and otherwise—felt similarly called to revisit their long-standing policies in the wake of Dobbs. One such organization was the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).