Stem Cell Issues

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Should we as society condone embryonic stem cell research or condemn it? Which is the greater moral obligation? To protect embryos as a being, or to promote research to improve the quality of life for countless numbers of people affected by numerous diseases and conditions? The answers to these questions seem to be in the eye of the beholder which seems to differentiate very different opinions on the matter.

Do We Protect Embryos as a Being?

Scientifically speaking, an embryo begins as a blastocyst, which is a cluster of cells that forms approximately five to seven days after conception. Typically fertilization would occur within a woman’s womb. However no one is suggesting we harvest living cells from a woman’s womb. The embryonic stem cells viable for research are these from embryos that are created outside of the womb in fertility clinics fro the purposes of invitro fertilization. Many of these embryos are never used and eventually will be discarded of. As Zuckerman states in his article, the otherwise discarded embryos would create more than enough stem cell lines for scientists to use for research purposes. (2004)
This is where the first question arises, do we protect embryos the same as a fully formed human life? In Zuckerman’s article he quotes U.S. Senator Orrin Hatch, one of 58, which seek a change in Presidents Bush’s policy on stem cell research saying “Only after an embryos transferred into a woman’s womb …..Is that natural capacity to become?

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A person attained, and only then does the government gain an interest in protecting that entity.”
In another article from the Wisconsin State Journal Steven S.Clark makes the argument that even before fertilization begins the sperm and...