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Originally Posted by GenuineRisk
... and that's exactly the position extremist anti-choicers and anti-stem cell researchers take. If you believe life begins at conception, then you can't support harvesting stem cells. Nor should you be supporting fertility clinics, but they don't tend to take their thought processes that far.
Mind you, I'm ardently pro-stem cell research and also ardently pro-choice (after much, much soul searching and hypothetical arguing with myself years ago as a teenager and young adult). And I can respect, if disagree with, people who are consistent in their beliefs about when life begins and when it is appropriate to end it. What makes me so crazy about Bush is it's all about political posturing-- stem cells, valuable, full human beings! Discarded clinic embryos... wha? What did you say? Me no understandy...
Again, guys; I love how, in the midst of all the passionate horse-race talk, these off-talk issues can come up and people can disagree and debate and toss around ideas kindly and with civility. You all make me proud to be a horse-racing fan and honored to be a member of this board.  |
Genuine Risk,
I was responding to Somerfrost's post about a concern he had about a woman that was willing to abort her fetus so that organs could be transplanted to her father..though I don't know about the case cited.
He needed clarification as to where stem cells came from and what they were used for. I hope I provided the information requested.
Again, stem cells come from unused embryos that are surplus from "fertility clinics". At that stage, they are not viable "human beings". They are destined to be discarded should an appropriate surrogate mother not be found. The amount of available embryos sitting in a thermos of liquid nitrogen is way beyond that possibility.
My opinion is that they are NOT viable human life at that point. They are a cluster of undifferentiated cells that can be used for scientific purposes. In my belief, there is a huge difference between an embryo and a fetus.
Discarding embryos denies the scientific community of finding answers that could help many people.
If you go back to my first post on this thread, you'll see the genes that are of specific interest to my son. His quest is to find the genetic "triggers" that cause a condition that occurs AFTER stage eight mitosis called (in "lay man's terms) hole in the heart. It's when the heart malforms and blood pumps between the left and right ventricles. This condition is seen in six of ten thousand live births and the newborns are rushed to the OR for "open heart surgery".
It is my hope that he and his fellow scientists can pursue their investigations and thereby help many, without the interferance of "moral politicians".