O. Carter Snead, "Exploring the Prudential Arguments against Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia"

With Commentary by Professor Herschella G. Conyers

Professor Carter Snead is a professor of law at the University of Notre Dame Law School. His principal area of research is Public Bioethics and the governance of science, medicine, and biotechnology in the name of ethical goods. His scholarly works have explored issues relating to neuroethics, enhancement, stem cell research, abortion, and end-of-life decisionmaking.

In addition to his scholarship and teaching, Professor Snead has provided advice on the legal and public policy dimensions of bioethical questions to officials in all three branches of government. Professor Snead served as General Counsel to The President’s Council on Bioethics, he testified in the U.S. House of Representatives on regulatory questions concerning RU-486, and led the U.S. government delegation for the Universal Declaration on Bioethics and Human Rights. He served (along with Dr. Edmund Pellegrino) as U.S. government’s Permanent Observer to the Council of Europe’s Steering Committee on Bioethics (CDBI), where he assisted in its efforts to elaborate international instruments and standards for the ethical governance of science and medicine. In conjunction with the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), he regularly lectures to state and federal judges on the uses of neuroimaging in the courtroom. He was recently appointed by the Director-General of UNESCO to a four-year term on the International Bioethics Committee (IBC), a 36-member body of independent experts that advises member states on bioethics, law, and public policy. The IBC is the only bioethics commission in the world with a global mandate.

Professor Snead received his J.D., magna cum laude, from Georgetown University (where he was elected to the Order of the Coif), and his B.A. from St. John’s College (Annapolis, MD). He clerked for the Hon. Paul J. Kelly, Jr. of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit.

Herschella Conyers received her BA from the University of Chicago in 1972 and her JD from the Law School in 1983. Prior to joining the Mandel Legal Aid Clinic in the fall of 1993, Ms. Conyers served as an assistant public defender, a supervisor, and a deputy chief in the office of the Cook County public defender.

Presented on February 10, 2015, by Law Students for Life and The Federalist Society.