Brave New Us
Should we use vaccines grown in aborted fetal tissue?
Up to what age can researchers ethically grow embryos for experimentation?
Should parents of sick children consider cloning if it offers potentially life-saving treatment?
Why are babies with prenatal diagnoses often denied standard care at birth?
We are on the cusp of allowing human life to be redefined by those who plunge ahead without pausing to consider whether these interventions affirm or undermine our human dignity. Now is the time to analyze the implications of emerging medical interventions and speak up about who we become by their use, and why it matters.
Why subscribe?
Subscribers receive articles and updates by Catholic author Samantha Stephenson. Brave New Us: Faith + Bioethics delivers a 100% Catholic take on the medical interventions we employ and the kind of society we are creating by their use.
Stay up to date, think deeply, and take action on the latest prolife issues at the intersection of faith and bioethics.
What is the paid subscription option?
Each article demands hours of intensive research, writing and editing. Having a paid subscription option allows readers to support this research, making it a sustainable project. If you appreciate what you’re reading and love finding it all in one place, a paid subscription says “thank you” and allows me to pursue those projects that really spark my curiosity — without depending on an outside editor to give it the “okay.”
Subscribers support the ongoing development, website hosting, and maintenance for projects like the Brave New Us project and CatholicBioethics.org. Your financial support allows Catholics and the Catholic-curious to stay informed, think deeply, and take on action on pressing bioethical issues of vital importance to people of faith.
About Me
I am a Catholic writer with Master’s Degrees in Theology and Bioethics, host of the podcast Brave New Us, and author of the upcoming book Reclaiming Motherhood from a Culture Gone Mad. As a convert, I tend to view everything through the lenses of this beautiful and ancient faith — a faith whose wisdom is often obscured by assumptions and misconceptions that run rampant in our culture.
I write about emerging medical technologies and interventions, a modern landscape where pioneers tend to leap first and look later. At the heart of most bioethical dilemmas is a deep confusion about what it means to be human and what truly comprises a meaningful life. It is at precisely this intersection that we need the voices of people of faith to resound with the truth about who we are and why we are here.
To contact me, you can leave a comment, visit my author website, or shoot me an email at samantha@faithandbioethics.com.
The Light of Faith
The Catholic Tradition affirms the following principles:
Every human being is endowed with innate, inviolable dignity.
The family is a community of love reflecting the relationality of the Trinity.
The Incarnation reveals the dignity of our bodies, created male and female.
As creatures, we receive the gift of life, one that is not ours to end prematurely.
The meaning of our lives is expressed in self-gift.
Suffering never has the last word.
Our earthly lives are a pilgrimage never to be confused with our final home.
These principles flow from the richness of the faith entrusted to us by Jesus and our world is starving for their wisdom. Each has serious implications for science and medicine and how we understand the goals of these disciplines. The interventions and advances of these disciplines can never be value-neutral; they will always reflect the underlying perspectives of those who employ them. My goal is to apply the Catholic understanding of the human person to emerging medical technologies and interventions with the ultimate goal of creating a more human society.
