This is a landmark day for One Of Us, the Europe-wide organisation set up to campaign for human life from its very first moment of conception. After 1.7 million European citizens signed a petition asking that the European Commission discontinue funding any activities that destroy human embryos the hearing was granted.

The hearings which are organised by the European Parliament’s Research, Legal Affairs and Development Committees took place un Brussels this morning.

Italian Journalist and best-selling author, Costanza Miriano, sees the One Of Us campaign as part of the solution to Europe deeper moral problem in that it asserts “the claim before the European Union to recognize the rights of the child as a human being from the moment of conception. It does not touch areas that aren’t under the Union’s competence, like that of abortion, thus, no one can protest about the aggression of acquired ‘rights’. It calls for something very reasonable.”

Cora Sherlock, Deputy Chairperson of Ireland’s Pro Life Campaign said of this opportunity:

“These hearings which have come about because so many Europeans oppose activities which destroy human life, present an opportunity to challenge the false perception that pro-life groups are opposed to stem cell research. Nothing could be further from the truth. Pro-life groups are among the strongest advocates of stem cell research. What we oppose is research that destroys human life at its earliest stages.”

She continued:

“The fact is that we have seen huge advances in non-controversial adult stem cell research. All of the major medical breakthroughs in recent years have been in the area of ethically-sound research yet much of the hype has centred around embryonic stem cell research which destroys human life and has resulted in no significant medical or scientific advances.”

And she added:

“It is not just pro-life groups who are saying this. Companies like the US-based Geron Corporation which invested millions of dollars in destructive embryonic stem cell research programmes discontinued the research in 2011 because it was yielding no results.”

“The hearings today also help to bring some ethical focus to this debate. We must not destroy life to prolong life. Rather we must strive for cures we can all live with.”

Costanza Miriano with two of her children