It took years for scientists to learn just how complex that “simple cell” really was.

Gradually, they realized that even the standard animal cell contained many different highly specialized organelles–structures that perform various jobs inside cells. For example, these complex biological machines keep the cell healthy and thriving by handling critical manufacturing, processing, transportation, and communication functions for the cell.

Even the cell wall turned out to be a very specialized structure. It admits or blocks the entry or exit of materials or molecular messages meeting very specific conditions, ready to perform very specific functions.

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The nucleus was easy to pick out, but its full significance has still only recently begun to be appreciated.  The nucleus is, of course, the “command center” which controls and regulates the cell’s activities. However, it is the also the storehouse for the cell’s DNA (short for deoxyribonucleic acid) which contains the unique blueprint for the fully developed animal—however many trillions of cells that may be. However, many dozens of unique types of cells are needed to make up that organism.

The profundity of this cannot be overstated.  Within that single cell, in that DNA, are the full set of instructions for building a fully functioning adult organism with all its complex working parts and organs. It is as if a single microscopic dot contained not just the blueprint for a large skyscraper, but for a city full of skyscrapers, with plans for all the roads, the vehicles, the farms and the grocery stores, the water and sewer systems, the hospitals, law enforcement, power production, the communications system, the factories and more.  And of course, with a great deal more complexity and efficiency than can be found in any modern city today.

Have a look at the human heart. 

Take the specialized master pump of the circulatory system, the four chambered human heart.  Here we have three layers of cardiac muscle, carefully calibrated to operate in a steady but flexible rhythm. The beating of that heart assures that every cell in the body gets the oxygen and nutrition and healing factors it needs, all the while making sure that waste is carried off and depleted corpuscles are replenished.

Each function, each element of the system has been carefully orchestrated by the code of that first single cell.

The same with the lungs, the other side of the cardiopulmonary system. With the help of the diaphragm and the tiny capillaries of the alveoli, lungs are capable of extracting oxygen from the air and delivering it to the blood stream while also removing carbon dioxide from some of those same cells and releasing it back into the environment.

Consider the human hand.

Within that single original cell (called the human zygote), there are codes for building each of the twenty-seven specialized bones of the hand, giving structure and flexibility to the wrist, palm, and fingers. These bones are growing, living material, containing marrow generating stem cells that give us red and white blood cells.

Blood vessels strategically placed throughout the hand form a system of arteries, veins and capillaries that carry nutrition to every type of cell and tissue found there, providing energy and oxygen for them to grow and function. Those blood vessels also carry away waste products and deoxygenated blood to be purged and renewed.

Also in that very first cell’s instructions are the elaborate system of muscles, ligaments, tendons and sheaths that give the hand the strength and ability to grasp, hold, move and manipulate various elements and objects of a great variety of sizes, shapes, and weights.

An intricate system of sensory nerves allows the hand and fingers to detect changes in temperature, pressure, even the slightest variation in surface texture or shape. Highly specialized motor nerves enable bones and muscles to work together, performing intricate and complex movements, offering great agility and strength as well as the capacity to make fine, nearly instantaneous adjustments to constantly changing circumstances.

Several layers of skin offer both covering and protection for bones, muscles, nerves and blood vessels, in addition to playing critical roles in regulating body temperature, water and electrolyte balance, and the synthesis of vitamin D. Owing to high concentration of sensory nerves, the skin of the palm and fingers are especially sensitive to pleasant and painful stimuli. The connection of those nerves with the ridges of the fingertips makes them particularly good at gripping, holding, and managing fine calibrations.

Each and every layer from bone to muscle to nerve to vein to skin is all extremely specialized and connected and coordinated. That same hand has the ability to

… tie a shoelace,

… build a house,

… plant a tree,

… assemble a circuit board,

… write on a chalkboard, read Braille, use sign language, text a friend,

… steer a race car, hit a baseball, throw a football, shoot a basketball, swing a tennis racket,

… give your spouse a helping hand or a massage,

… build a sandwich or prepare a gourmet meal,

… sew a shirt or chisel a statue,

… play ‘Chopsticks” or a Chopin sonata,

… type a college paper or a bestselling novel,

… perform a card trick or do brain surgery,

… finger paint or paint a Mona Lisa,

… hold the hand of a young child or mop the brow of an aged parent.

The capacity to do all these things is contained in that single tiny special cell, in the zygotic human being. And this is just about the marvel that is the human hand!

There are yet many more marvels to consider.

Even before getting into the marvelous mystery of the human brain, consider the unique sensory capacities found centered around the human face and head. Within the instructions encoded in that single celled human zygote are all the specialized cells, structures, sensitivities, systems and neural networks necessary for a human being to experience a glorious variety of inputs from the environment in the form of smells, tastes, sounds and sights.

If you doubt the complexity involved there, just open the back of your computer or TV or sound system and try to explain how every module and circuit function to be able to give you just a facsimile of the reality your eyes and ears deliver you daily. And though your favorite cooking show may present something so compelling it makes you salivate, to actually smell or taste it, you’ll have to bring in a couple of entirely new sensory systems science is still working to understand and artificially replicate.

And what about that brain, with its hundred billion or so neurons and synapses, storing facts and memories, providing a seat for consciousness, processing logic and mathematics, managing the body’s physical systems, recognizing and responding to the environment, considering a course and initiating the body’s actions?

Yes, once again, every bit of that is all set up according to the precise instructions found in that original single human cell formed at conception – the zygote.

There is nothing like that single cell in all of nature.

The zygotes of other animals may contain genetic blueprints for some amazing creatures, but none possess the full set of capabilities and capacities of humanity.  Other human cells contain human DNA, but do not exist in the conditions that fully activate that genome and cause the division and differentiation that gives rise to all those various interconnected, coordinated and specialized parts and systems.

It isn’t just that these are elaborate plans or blueprints amazingly shrunk and stuffed in a tiny package, some novel microscopic library. They are living cells, human beings who are alive, growing, interacting with their environment, actively moving on to their next stage of development and engagement.

Even more amazing, with all that elaborate precision and complex detail contained in that cell, there is still room for great individual variation so that no two human beings are ever precisely alike. So, every human being is remarkable and every human being is remarkably unique!

This too is part of that single, first human cell. What we have here isn’t just that first instance of humanity, but the first appearance of a particular, unique individual human being.

That’s you, at your first moment of existence. That’s me. That’s every single one of us exactly as we were at that first amazing initial stage of our lives.

So, is the single celled human zygote just another cell, just a tiny, insignificant mass of protoplasm?

Sure, if the Ceiling of the Sistine Chapel by Michelangelo is “just a painting.”

NOTES 

1. As with any major scientific discovery, there are many disputes over who first saw what and who it was that first understood what he or she was seeing, but it is widely agreed that Hooke was the one who first named the cell, likening the chambers he saw in the slice of cork he was observing in a microscope to the cells where monks lived in a monastery. 
2. There are an estimated 37.2 trillion in the human body, according to the Annals of Human Biology, Nov-Dec 2013.  The American Association for the Advancement of Science says there are over 200 different types of cells found in the human body (“The Cells in Your Body,” accessed 9/14/21). 
3. Twins, while sharing the same original DNA, always display at least some small difference, perhaps due to environmental or epigenetic factors experienced during development, so that those who know them well can tell them apart.

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Among the constitutional amendments likely slated for Virginia’s November 2026 general election are a proposal concerning reproductive issues like abortion, contraception, and in vitro fertilization, and another concerning same-sex marriage. Burbidge framed both measures as conflicting with Catholic teaching on the sanctity of life and marriage and has long signaled opposition to both proposals.

Last January, he criticized the “extreme abortion amendment,” pledging to “be deeply engaged in the work of helping to educate voters on these proposed amendments” and to “fight the extreme abortion amendment with maximum determination.”

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That proposal, the “Virginia Right to Reproductive Freedom Amendment,” would add language to the state constitution protecting “reproductive freedom,” defined as “the right to make and effectuate one’s own decisions about all matters related to one’s pregnancy.”

The amendment further provides that the state may intervene only when pursuing a “compelling interest,” defined as “maintaining or improving the health of an individual seeking care,” and only through “the least restrictive means” that does not infringe on “individuals’ autonomous decision making.”

Currently, abortion is fully legal in Virginia through the second trimester and into the third trimester under limited circumstances. Third-trimester abortions are permitted only when three physicians certify that continuing the pregnancy would pose a significant risk to the mother’s mental or physical health.

Burbidge argued the amendment would “enshrine a radical and dangerous pro-abortion culture in the Commonwealth, something far more radical than Roe v. Wade was nationally.” He added that the proposal would “essentially eliminate parental rights and allow for completely unregulated abortion on healthy babies up to birth.”

A separate amendment would repeal a 2006 provision in Virginia’s Constitution defining marriage as solely between one man and one woman. In its place, the proposal would establish marriage as “one of the vital personal rights essential to the orderly pursuit of happiness” and would prohibit the state from denying marriage licenses based on sex, gender, or race and require legal recognition of those marriages.

Though Virginia’s Constitution currently bars same-sex marriage, the provision has been moot since 2015, when the U.S. Supreme Court held in Obergefell v. Hodges that same-sex marriage is constitutionally protected under the Due Process and Equal Protection clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment.

Burbidge claimed the proposed amendment would “enshrine a false understanding of marriage” and argued that marriage is a “sacramental reality” between a man and a woman “for the unitive and procreative good of the spouses and their family.”

Virginia’s constitutional amendment process requires proposals to pass both chambers of the Virginia General Assembly via majority twice, once before and once after a legislative election, before advancing to voters in a statewide referendum. If a majority of voters approve the proposal, the constitution is amended.

After receiving initial approval from the General Assembly in 2025, lawmakers gave final legislative approval to the amendments earlier this year.

Emphasizing what he described as the high stakes of the election, Burbidge told listeners, “This may be the only election in our lifetime where you hear me, or the Church, speak directly on how to approach the ballot box.”

He continued, “God Himself knitted us together in our mother’s womb, and our Lord Himself instituted the sacrament of marriage. As faithful Catholics, we know that precisely in order to protect the right to life and to protect marriage, Catholics must vote no.”

LifeNews Note: Douglas Bair writes for Daily Signal, where this article originally appeared.

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Dr James MacLean was the subject of two complaints relating to two cases involving Canada’s euthanasia and assisted suicide regime, known as Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD).

After the cases, one of which included conducting an assessment outside the cafe and doughnut shop Tim Hortons, his general conduct was reviewed by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario, and it was determined that MacLean displayed a lack of judgment in his decisions, dealt with patients in a way that “raised a risk of perceived coercion”, and kept inadequate records.

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The College found that MacLean’s conduct “exposes or is likely to expose patients to harm or injury in five out of twenty [patient] charts reviewed”.

Doctor assessed man with suicidal ideation for euthanasia outside a Tim Hortons cafe

The 45-year-old Thomas Dillon, who had Crohn’s disease, in addition to a history of alcohol abuse, depression and suicidal ideation, met with MacLean more than once outside the doughnut shop for his euthanasia eligibility assessments.

MacLean conducted Dillon’s euthanasia eligibility assessment outside of a Tim Hortons cafe, where the doctor found him to be eligible, after which they exchanged numerous text messages to plan the end of his life.

Two days later, they met again at the cafe, from where the doctor then drove the patient to the location where he would end his life. MacLean then ended Dillon’s life by euthanasia in an industrial unit where cadavers are prepared for transport to funeral homes.

The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario found that MacLean had crossed professional boundaries with his casual approach to ending Dillon’s life, and found that the venue for the eligibility assessment was inappropriate.

Family of deceased in disbelief that MacLean is still allowed to practise

It has been reported that Dillon’s family agree with several of the College’s findings; however, they argue that the regulator is not doing enough to prevent further abuses from occurring.

“I am horrified that the college has not stopped him from practising”, Dillon’s aunt, Megan Nichols, said. “What does it take?”

The College gave MacLean a caution, and agreed to several conditions relating to his practise, including a minimum six-month clinical supervision and unannounced inspections of his practice locations and patient records.

None of these concerns were escalated to the Ontario Physicians and Surgeons Discipline Tribunal, where allegations of professional misconduct or incompetence are adjudicated.

Spokesperson for Right To Life UK, Catherine Robinson, said “This is yet another sad case suggestive of the kind of thing that could happen in the UK if assisted dying is made legal here”.

“Safeguards on paper do not mean much if doctors simply ignore them, and it seems that Dr MacLean has had little more than a slap on the wrist for his gross conduct. Of course, even if Dr MacLean had acted in accordance with procedure, his actions would still have been reprehensible”.

“The state and medical professionals should not be helping people end their own lives. It radically distorts the relationship between doctor and patient and assumes that some lives are not worth living”.

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The appeals court ruled the pro-life plaintiffs lacked standing to sue.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit upheld a lower court’s dismissal of the challenge to Article 1, Section 28 of the Michigan Constitution — the provision voters added through Proposal 3 in 2022. That radical measure enshrines a broad “right to reproductive freedom” and has blocked enforcement of Michigan’s longstanding 1931 abortion ban.

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Right to Life of Michigan, along with other pro-life organizations, physicians and Republican lawmakers, filed the federal lawsuit in November 2023. The suit argued that Proposal 3 overreached and threatened important parental rights, particularly the ability of parents to be involved in a minor child’s decision to obtain an abortion.

A federal district court previously dismissed the case for lack of standing, prompting an appeal by a subset of the plaintiffs.

The Sixth Circuit ruled strictly on procedural grounds, finding that the plaintiffs failed to allege sufficient facts to establish legal standing.

The court did not reach the underlying merits of the challenge to Proposal 3 or its impact on Michigan’s parental consent law.

Right to Life of Michigan President Amber Roseboom issued the following statement on the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals’ dismissal of the lawsuit:

“While the decision from the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals is disappointing, it is based entirely on what is known as ‘standing,’ without addressing the merits or specifics of the actual challenge. Our narrow appeal sought to challenge the overreach of Proposal 3 and the threat it poses to parental rights related to a minor child’s decision to seek an abortion. Parental consent for abortion remains in Michigan law and is supported by the large majority of Michigan voters. The radical left is hell-bent on creating a wedge between parents and their children when it comes to abortion, gender identity and sex education, and will use anything, including Proposal 3, to do so.”

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, a Democrat, praised the ruling and pro-abortion Gov. Gretchen Whitmer welcomed the decision.

The dismissal leaves Proposal 3 fully intact. Pro-life advocates maintain the amendment endangers longstanding protections for parental authority and goes far beyond what many voters understood when they approved it in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 Dobbs decision.

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Instead of investing in more care, support, and hope for people who are suffering, the Canadian government legalized assisted suicide through a program called Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID). From the beginning, it was presented as a “last resort” for people with serious illnesses — treating death as the answer to suffering instead of offering true compassion, care, and support.

But nearly ten years later, the program has expanded far beyond that.

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Today, people with disabilities, chronic illnesses, loneliness, and even mental health struggles are increasingly being offered death instead of real help and support.

And the numbers continue to rise:

• Ontario’s latest MAID report showed a 7.2% increase in euthanasia deaths from 2024 to 2025.
• Analysts estimate that about 17,650 Canadians died through euthanasia in 2025 alone.
• Across Canada, MAID deaths rose another 6.9% between 2024 and 2025.
• Since the program began, more than 94,000 Canadians have died through euthanasia.
• At the current pace, Canada is expected to surpass 100,000 euthanasia deaths in 2026.

These numbers are alarming; assisted suicide is no longer rare in Canada. In fact, about 1 in every 20 deaths now happens through euthanasia.

Even more concerning, many of these patients were not close to dying. Some were living with disabilities, chronic illnesses, or emotional suffering.

Several heartbreaking stories have raised even more serious concerns about the program.

In one case, a woman was euthanized after her husband said he was exhausted from caring for her. In another case, a man struggling with loneliness and a medical condition chose euthanasia instead of receiving deeper support and care. Another woman reportedly left Canada to seek cancer treatment elsewhere after being told assisted suicide was her only option.

These stories point to a painful reality: many vulnerable people are choosing MAID not because death is their only option, but because they feel abandoned, unsupported, or unable to get the help they truly need.

Rather than strengthening support systems, Canada continues pushing to expand euthanasia eligibility even further. Leaders have worked for years to allow MAID for people whose only condition is mental illness.

That means someone suffering from severe depression, anxiety, or an eating disorder could potentially qualify for assisted suicide.

Medical Assistance in Dying is already a deeply troubling practice. Expanding it to people struggling with mental illness raises even more serious moral and medical concerns. Those facing depression, anxiety, or emotional suffering need compassion, treatment, and real support — not a system that presents death as the answer to their pain.

Canada’s experience should serve as a warning to the rest of the world.

True compassion does not end suffering by ending a life. Every human being has inherent dignity and value, regardless of age, disability, illness, or circumstance.

LifeNews Note: Brittany Campbell writes for Texas Right to Life.

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Patients who commit VSED are often not terminally ill. In fact, euthanasia organizations promote self-starvation to the elderly who are not dying and as a means of becoming eligible for assisted suicide where it is legal by making oneself “terminal” via lack of sustenance.

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VSED must be distinguished from the common circumstance when actively dying people stop eating. That’s a natural process and often peaceful because the body cannot assimilate food as organs shut down. VSED, in contrast, deprives the body of sustenance it needs to remain alive toward the end of causing death, i.e., it is a suicide method.

Without palliation, many people attempting VSED would abandon the attempt. The bioethicists know this and claim that once the decision to commit suicide is made, doctors are duty-bound to medically ameliorate the suffering that inevitably results:

If a patient is adamant in their refusal of food and water, the same physician must respect the competent refusal by not force‐feeding the patient and should offer standard palliative care, as they would for any other dying patient. Medical support for patients undertaking VSED should be adequate and proportionate to their symptoms, as per any other form of palliative care. This is arguably not assisted suicide.

No, it is precisely that. First, but for the self-starvation, many people who undertake VSED would not be dying. Second, palliation permits the patient to complete the suicide that would otherwise be abandoned. Hence, the palliating doctor is facilitating the patient in becoming dead, i.e., it is a form of suicide assistance.

The authors acknowledge that if a doctor’s assurance of palliation factors into the decision to undertake VSED, that could be deemed assisted suicide:

We acknowledge that there may be some cases in which combining these two practices could amount to assistance in suicide. Jox et al. identify two key factors which, if present, arguably classify VSED cases as assisted suicide: (a) the promise of medical assistance is instrumental to the individual’s decision to pursue VSED, and (b) the physician shares, at least in part, in the individual’s decision to pursue VSED (amounting to some level of encouragement).

The authors next argue that VSED patients should be allowed to be rendered permanently unconsciousness if experiencing “refractory delirium”:

We propose the following criteria for VSED with TS in the setting of refractory delirium:
1. The patient is experiencing unbearable suffering.
2. The patient has lost decision‐making capacity.
3. The patient has previously stopped all fluids.
4. The patient has previously indicated that they would not wish for fluid to recommence if delirious.
5. Other measures to address confusion/distress have been attempted (or refused in advance), such as antipsychotics.

Ah, the old “strict guidelines protect against abuse” scenario.

Let’s discuss this in the real world. Strict restrictions rarely stay strict. For example, needle “exchange” to prevent the spread of HIV eventually slouched into outright needle give away, no used syringes required.

The same kind of slippage would happen if sedating people committing VSED were allowed. Eventually, such drugging would become a standard technique, its availability amplified by assisted suicide advocates.

The authors’ answer to this objection? Let doctors predetermine whether to facilitate the suicide with sedation:

We believe that this harm can be reasonably mitigated through a thorough pre‐assessment of individuals requesting VSED. Prior to initiating physician involvement in the VSED process, physicians should seek to confirm that the individual (a) has decision‐making capacity, and (b) expresses a genuine intention to end their life. This pre‐assessment should also seek to confirm that the individual is fully informed, their decision is voluntary, their decision is consistent with their known values, and that the individual is free from mental illness compromising their decision.

Wait: The authors wrote earlier that when “the promise of medical assistance is instrumental to the individual’s decision to pursue VSED, and “the physician shares, at least in part, in the individual’s decision to pursue VSED (amounting to some level of encouragement),” that it would amount to assisted suicide. Pre-assessment would fit those very criteria, no?

So, we see the slippery slope slip-sliding away in the very article calling for allowing sedation under strict guidelines to prevent abuse. If this proposal is implemented, the next step will be to quit beating around the bush and get on with the lethal jabs.

Why write about this, Wesley? Articles in professional journals are a means of constructing future public policy and people need to be warned about what is being planned before it is imposed from on high. Or to put it another way, these issues are too important to be left to the bioethicists.

LifeNews.com Note: Wesley J. Smith, J.D., is a special consultant to the Center for Bioethics and Culture and a bioethics attorney who blogs at Human Exeptionalism.

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