Embryos used in IVF, as they as they were created to be used for, try to create a human life. Some don't survive the process as in nature when a miscarriage happens. When they are used for Somatic cell nuclear transfer (therapeutic cloning) they are intentionally destroyed.
So the argument is that excess frozen embryos not used for IVF will no longer continue to grow and die, so they should be used for Somatic cell nuclear transfer instead of going to waste. If that embryo is the beginning of a human life (which some have said are precious and should be treated with respect), then how is different then say euthanizing someone in a coma to use their organs to help someone else? I think most people would agree that would be morally wrong.
I never really cared either way. People who want to use embryos say they exist so why not use them. That seemed to make sense. So I started searching for reasons why people were against using them. Since I consider myself a Catholic I checked what The Vatican had to say on the subject. In the document "Scientific and Therapeutic Use of Human Embryonic Stem Cells" http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_academies/acdlife/documents/rc_pa_acdlife_doc_20000824_cellule-staminali_en.html I found
- On the basis of a complete biological analysis, the living human embryo is - from the moment of the union of the gametes - a human subject with a well defined identity, which from that point begins its own coordinated, continuous and gradual development, such that at no later stage can it be considered as a simple mass of cells
Just my humble opinion.
Jim
At 06:50 PM 11/1/2004, David K. Kelmer wrote:
This is my point. There are embryonic cells that are being destroyed now, and more are being made and frozen as I write this. They will never all be "donated" to other couples, those couples what their own, and theirs will be added to the cells already frozen. If saying that these cells are being destroyed now, which they are, without looking at other options, sounds to you like the medical experiments performed on the Jews by the Nazis', then why does our government continue to license the IVF clinics? Why are the voices expressing outrage at cell "research" not speaking out against IVF clinics "freezing" cells? How can the Science that helps infertile couples have children be called good, if the same Science when used to do "research" is called bad?
Jim Lubin
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Bothell, WA, USA
http://makoa.org/jim
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