The Fundamental Right to Refuse
Crispin Sartwell, LA Times
“If we respect the decision to perform abortions, we ought to respect the refusal to do so.”

Testing Genes, Solving Little
Olivia Judson, New York Times
“For most traits, genetic testing is — for now, anyway — little better than consulting the tea leaves.”

Mentally Ill Still Subject to Contempt
Art Caplan, Philadelphia Inquirer
“Unless we can get past dismissing mental illness as the product either of a lack of willpower or a lack of character, we don't stand a chance of helping those who must suffer with the shame and stigma.”

Birth-Control Blur
William Saletan, Slate.com
“HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt writes as though conscience protection is a separate issue from the blurring of abortion with contraception. It isn't.”

Enhanced Athletes? It's Only Natural
Andy Miah, Washington Post
“I’m all for the high-tech hero. She’s the future.”

New IVF Dilemmas Make Old Fears Seem Quaint
Art Caplan, MSNBC
“While the initial worries and fears about IVF were misguided, that doesn’t mean there is nothing to worry about now or in the future as reproductive technology evolves.”

Free-Market Baby Making
Gregory Pence, LA Times
“The experience of 30 years teaches us two things: first, discount alarmism about assisted reproduction and embrace (don't fear) new ways of making babies. Second, let the market, not government, regulate baby making.”

Paying Doctors to Ignore Patients
Peter B. Bach, NY Times
“Scattershot strategies aimed at individual fees are unlikely to reduce health care costs. More fundamental changes are needed in the way doctors are paid.”

Mind-Altering Drugs and the Problem Child
Claudia Meininger Gold, Boston Globe
“If we can listen differently to parents of young children who have ‘behavior problems,’ we can intervene early, before there is even a question of medication, and may be able to change these developing brains.”

Cash for Kidneys? Scheme Won't Work
Art Caplan, MSNBC
“A default donation plan could bring a boost in organs for transplant without creating the headaches, fears and misdistribution of a financial market.”

'Blade Runner' Ruling Subverts Nature of Sport
Art Caplan, MSNBC
“It may be fascinating to see who can go the fastest on rocket-powered legs or throw a heavy weight the farthest using performance-enhancing drugs, or genetically engineered muscles. But what you have then is an exhibition or a show, not a sport.”

A Phony 'War on Science'
Michael Gerson, Washington Post
“In their talk of a Republican war on science, liberals may be blinding themselves to a very different kind of modern war in which their own ideals are deeply implicated: a war on equality.”

It’s Not Immoral to Want to be Immortal
Arthur Caplan, MSNBC
“Despite a lot of hand-wringing and finger-pointing, it is not obvious that wanting to live a lot longer is evil or immoral.”

Science Is Leading Us to More Answers, but It's Also Misleading Us
David A. Shaywitz, Washington Post
“Consumers of scientific information must balance the hope we place in global biology with the skepticism this field has surely earned.”

Taking the Scary out of Breast Cancer Stats
Carol Tavris and Avrum Bluming, LA Times
“The media understand how deeply women fear breast cancer, and the result is that every study that seems to find a link between some new risk factor and the disease makes headlines everywhere.”

Dollars to Doughnuts Diagnosis
Albert Fuchs, LA Times
“Insurance doesn't make routine care affordable; it makes it more expensive by adding a middleman.” 

Tainted Medicine
Jerome P. Kassirer, LA Times
“Disclosure of financial ties may give a scientist or researcher a clean conscience, but that doesn't erase the possibility of a conflict.”

Children's Health Can't Be Left to Faith Alone
Arthur Caplan, MSNBC
“Parents do not have the right to watch a child wither away while they pray.”