Fetal Tissue

0 Pages 115 Words

Two different sources have been successfully used to collect these cells so far, and both carry substantial moral baggage. One technique used discarded fetal tissue, and the other used embryos created in fertility clinics and donated by couples who no longer needed or wanted to use them. Each source obviously raises ethical questions.

Fetal tissue comes from either miscarriages or therapeutic abortions, and so some activists have argued that research on embryonic stem cells will create new demand for fetal tissue and incentives for abortions. This seems unlikely given the ample ongoing supply of fetal tissue, and the important prohibition against paying donors for the tissue so as not to create financial incentives for abortion....