"It would be like saying that killing mentally handicapped children is wrong, but as long as they're doing it anyway, let's use their corpses for research." ___________ Another gloomy analogy that has little to do with reality.
More so than the war in Iraq? Personally, I'm more worried about the thousands of people dying in a war without justification. How about you? Not exactly. For thousands of years the general consensus on when life begins is at BIRTH...not conception. And legally, that is still true today. A child is not recognized as a human in America (assigned a SS #) until birth. That is NOT an arbitrary.
On the bright side, if genetic engineering does go outta control, we all have Gattaca as our guide to beat the system.
I knew someone else had said that but I just couldn't remember who. Sorry for the uncredited quote. I hope I don't have to pay royalties.
In defense of them they have. From the anti-abortion debates they've repeatedly brought up the argument of "natural progression" so the distinction is that left in the womb naturally the embryo will become a person and its only the artificial intervention of removing them from that. Its the same as if an acorn were planted, watered and given sunlight it will naturally progress to become an oak tree. The key term being naturally.
Every sperm is sacred... Frist is right here, but it's worth underscoring that stem cell research is not illegal, bush has merely prohibited federal funding for research beyond the existing lines.
But that just shows the stupidity of Bush. If Bush funds stem-cell research, then the government can create guidelines and direct the research to where it is needed. By preventing a large sum to go into stem-cell research, private companies direct their own research without regard to any policy or guideline except those that they set up themselves, plus the research will be focused on the greatest financial return rather than the greatest need.
Not every fertilized egg becomes a baby. Many are ejected. Embryos die 'naturally' all the time. Can we use those discarded eggs? Plus, we are talking about harvesting eggs used in fertilization clinics that would be discarded anyways.
Muchos gracias. Like I said I don't agree with the pro-life position but I've gotten to know it and even respect it more debating it here.
You seem to be totally misunderstanding what stem cell researchers want to do. I have heard of nobody in the research community lobbying to be able to create embryos in order to harvest the stem cells. Right now, there are millions upon millions of frozen embryos that will simply be thrown in the garbage can if they are not allowed to be harvested. The sperm and egg donors are willing ot let them be used for science and yet no federal funding is allowed to be used for this research. Again, nobody is talking about allowing "artificially created" embryos that are created for the express purpose of harvesting the stem cells. The embryos already exist, we should be allowed to put those resources to work.
