Embryos are not people

While there are definitley moral and ethical questions to be debated regarding embryonic stem cell research, it would be nice if we could all agree that embryos are not the same as people. Unfortunately, there are too many people that seem to think they are exactly the same. It's ridiculous to think that a bunch of cells sitting in a petri dish has the same value as a living breathing person. Especially because, if no one ever does anything with them, they will continue to just sit in that petri dish. That is not a life, that is something that has potential to create a life. But it also has potential to do other things as well, things that could help actual people. It's very frustrating that people would rather they sit there unused than be used to possibly help people. You would think we could at least agree to use the ones that are already available and would be otherwise discarded. Personally, I'm not sure I would be against creating more for research if it had the promise of saving actual lives, but I really can't see any reason not to use the ones that are already available, that will never be implanted into anyone, and therefore never actually be a person.

My son was born using IVF, and we didn't have any embryos left over, but if we had, am I supposed to have the same feelings for them that I do for my living breathing little boy? That's absurd. We transferred all three embryos that we had in our effort to have my son, should I mourn the two that were lost? It's ridiculous, they are not the same thing. Potential for life is not life, and if people truly should feel guilty about destroying the potential for life, why are we not talking about making birth control pills, vasectomies, masturbation, etc. illegal? If the potential for life is really so sacred, aren't these things just as bad? Hell, shouldn't IVF be illegal since it creates all these extra embryos, anyway? Just another example of people on the right who would rather bitch about some imagined injustice than live in reality where things are complicated.