Skip to main content

Law Student Leads Organization in Examining Value of Human Life

Many still believe that abortion is the only issue being debated in the bioethics arena.

But according to third-year law student Antionette Duck, it’s not.

“Bioethics now encompasses euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide, cloning, stem-cell research, human hybrids and the question of whether human value should be determined based on cognitive ability alone,” says Duck.

In addition to her life as a law student, this year Duck served as the Chairman of Regent Students for Life (RSFL), a University-wide organization dedicated to putting the pro-life message into action.

Spurred on by her legal interests and her dedication to human life, Duck recently led RSFL in hosting a highly successful symposium featuring a panel of renowned bioethicists who spoke on these controversial yet deeply significant topics.

The symposium, "The Human Continuum: Determining the Value of Human Life," centered on the questions: Are human beings intrinsically valuable and does value exist on a continuum?

On the panel were Wesley J. Smith, senior fellow in Human Rights and Bioethics at the Discovery Institute; Burke Balch, director of the Robert Powell Centre for Medical Ethics of National Right to Life; Paige Cunningham, executive director of the Center for Bioethics & Human Dignity; and Regent Education Professor Dr. Mark Mostert, director of the Institute for the Study of Disability and Bioethics. Regent Law Professor Lynne Marie Kohm served as moderator.

At the heart of the symposium was the often-debated, comprehensive concept of human dignity and value. The bioethicists took a philosophical approach to identifying how issues surrounding this concept are understood in America and the resulting actions determining quality of life and personhood.

According to Duck, RSFL hosted this symposium not only to educate, but to enlighten. “If society does not value the sanctity of life at the beginning of life, society will not honor the sanctity of life at the end of life, and it certainly won't value human life in the interim,” she said.

Learn more about Regent’s Center for the Study of Disability and Bioethics here.

Popular posts from this blog

Regent Law Hires Two New Faculty Members—Both Yale Law Graduates—for Fall 2022

VIRGINIA BEACH, VA (July 5, 2022) – Today, Regent University School of Law announced the appointment of two new members of its faculty, Erin Morrow Hawley and David D. Velloney.  Both Hawley and Velloney are graduates of Yale Law School.  Professor Hawley will teach constitutional law and serve as a senior fellow at the Robertson Center for Constitutional Law.  Professor Velloney will focus on criminal law, military law, and constitutional criminal procedure.   Professors Hawley and Velloney are the third and fourth professors added to the Regent Law faculty in the past year.  “We are incredibly fortunate to attract such exceptional teachers, mentors, and scholars to our faculty,” said Brad Lingo, dean of Regent University School of Law.  “Our students will love learning from professors Hawley and Velloney and benefit from the depth of experience and Christian perspectives they bring.” New Faculty Appointments: Erin Morrow Hawley: Associate Pro...
Read more

Regent Alumna Nominated for Two Judgeships

Tanya Bullock, a 2000 Regent Law graduate, has been nominated for a judicial position on Virginia Beach’s Circuit Court and for a vacancy in the city’s General District Court. Bullock founded the firm Bullock & Cooper with her twin sister, a 2002 Regent Law graduate. Bullock has been honored numerous times for her outstanding work in the legal field and on behalf of the community. Awards include Inside Business’s Top 40 Under 40 and Hampton Roads’s Outstanding Professional Women . Previous to founding her firm, Bullock worked as a local prosecutor. Only four others were nominated for the Circuit Court vacancy, including a current general district judge and a former delegate. Ten others were nominated for the General District Court position. Nominations were submitted last month to the Virginia Beach Bar Association, which distributed the names to members and asked them to rate the nominees. When the General Assembly’s regular session convenes on January 13, 2010, the local ...
Read more

Three More Regent Law Alumni Appointed as Judges

Three more Regent University School of Law alumni have been appointed to judgeships, bringing the total number of Regent Law alumni currently serving on the bench to 28. The Virginia General Assembly filled eight vacant judgeships during a special session on Thursday, September 18. Earle C. Mobley ’89 was appointed as a judge for the Portsmouth Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court. Mobley has served as the commonwealth’s attorney in Portsmouth since 2002. Phillip C. Hollowell ’98 was appointed to the Virginia Beach Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court. Most recently, Hollowell has served as deputy commonwealth’s attorney in Virginia Beach. David Morgan Barredo '01 was appointed Culpeper County’s Deputy Commonwealth’s Attorney, as the new Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court Judge for Virginia’s 16th District. In addition, Joseph A. Migliozzi ’94 (pictured) , who had been serving as a judge in Norfolk General District Court since 2009, was promoted to the Norfolk Circui...
Read more