Ethics of stem cell research

I truly don't understand the arguments of those who insist embryonic stem cell research is wrong, yet who accept the highly unnatural in vitro fertilization programs that produce these blastocysts in the first place. Such programs guarantee extra embryos will be produced, and these are destroyed if not used. So if you oppose embryonic stem cell research you must oppose IVF programs, too.

Having said that, I do think intent matters, just as it does in other areas of medicine. For example, it is ethical to give a dying patient narcotics to relieve pain and distress, even if doing so reduces their breathing just a bit, because our intent is to relieve pain and not hasten death. Likewise, I think it is ethical for us to use discarded embryos for research if our intent in producing them was to create a pregnancy; it would be unethical for us to produce these embryos for the purpose of harvesting stem cells. It may seem like a sophistic distinction, but it's not; we confront similar situations in other areas of medicine.