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Local Catholic families raise funds, awareness of bioethical issues
By Rebecca Bostic, The Catholic Sun
October 4, 2007
The pro-life issue is one Catholics and Americans generally know well. However, many are not aware of the implications that biological research has on innocent human life.
Nikolas Nikas, president and general counsel of the Bioethics Defense Fund, is educating people of all interests in the ethical dangers of so-called scientific advancement.
The fund is a “pro-life legal and educational organization that promotes human rights from the beginning to end,” Nikas said.
“Our mission is to provide innovative and practical legal and educational solutions that address the human rights violations of human cloning and destructive human embryo experiments, abortion and physician-assisted suicide,” he said.
Five local Catholic families hosted a fundraiser for the Bioethics Defense Fund Sept. 14 in Scottsdale. The event featured Stephen McEveety, producer of “The Passion of the Christ” and “Braveheart,” among other films.
McEveety, who has worked with Nikas on various bioethical political causes, spoke about his involvement in pro-life ethics and focused particularly on the story behind the production of “The Passion of the Christ.”
McEveety first began to think about biomedical ethics after viewing a collection of photographs of a fetus in the womb. At 24 weeks, “the baby’s completely formed and has fingers,” McEveety said of the pictures.
The unborn baby “is just the cutest thing in the world — you know, you want to take it home with you — and we’re told that it’s OK to kill those things,” he said, referring to legalized abortion.
Realizing “that there’s a human being in there and it’s going to be a human being unless you destroy it” ignited his passion for bioethical defense, he said.
“I think as Catholics, hopefully people realize that there’s a lot we can do through whatever strengths we have and we shouldn’t be complacent,” McEveety said. That is what the people working at the Bioethics Defense Fund are doing because “it all comes down to the laws,” he said.
Employees of the Bioethical Defense Fund spend countless hours trying to uphold laws that support life and defend against those that do not. Yet the staff is unable to spend all of its time working for life because of the need to raise money.
The realization that Nikas spends half his time fundraising is what inspired Leila and Dean Miller to co-host the event.
“He is doing all the hard work and we need to support his efforts,” Leila Miller said. “As a community, especially a Catholic community, we’re the ones to do that. That’s our torch to carry.”
Dean Miller hopes the Bioethics Defense Fund can make more Catholics aware of the many threats to human life.
“Abortion is one thing, but if you allow cloning, abortion almost becomes secondary. The farming of people, the body parts, is going to happen all the time, everywhere,” Miller said.
Cloning is certainly something the Church is against, as Fr. Fred Adamson, vicar general of the Diocese of Phoenix, pointed out.
“The Bioethics Defense Fund, in a special way, helps to educate Catholics about the key issues of embryonic stem cell research,” he said. “It helps us to understand medical and biomedical issues that the average Catholic or average person is not truly aware of — the ethics that are involved and the issue of life at stake.”
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