See also: quick facts | stem cell, cloning, fetal | prenatal | selective reduction | eugenics | physicians' oaths

STEM CELL, CLONING AND FETAL EXPERIMENTATION

We welcome recent scientific advances in medicinešs ability to diagnose, treat, and cure various kinds of diseases.  We vigorously oppose, however, any research that depends on the intentional killing, destroying, and dismembering of pre-born human beings.

Stem Cell Research
A stem cell is sometimes called a "generic" cell and it is a cell that can make copies of itself indefinitely, and can also produce specialized cells for various tissues in the body. Scientists have great hopes of using stem cells to cure various diseases.

Research is being conducted with two types of stem cells, embryonic and adult. Embryonic stem cells are obtained from either aborted fetuses or clinically produced embryos. Adult stem cells are obtained from born children or adults. To date, research using embryonic stem cells has not had favorable results, while that using adult stem cells have in been very positive.

We support adult stem cell research but oppose embryonic.

Cloning
Human cloning has been the focus of much moral, ethical, and political debate. Scientists have separated human cloning into two types--research or therapeutic and reproductive--but there is actually no distinction because all human cloning results in the creation of a new human embryo.

The difference between research and reproductive cloning is what happens to the embryo after it is created. Research cloning involves cloning human embryos for purposes such as pulling stem cells, after which the embryos die. Reproductive cloning involves allowing the cloned embryo to grow and be born.

We oppose all forms of human cloning.

Cloning legislation information is available from the National Right to Life web site.

Fetal Experimentation
Fetal experiments generally fall into two categories:

1. Experimentation on early pre-born children. This usually involves research on human embryos resulting from in-vitro fertilization (IVF), up to about 14 days after fertilization, e.g., embryonic stem cell research and human cloning techniques
   
   
2. Experimentation on pre-born babies aborted alive from 8 weeks after fertilization until the moment of birth, e.g., fetal tissue research

   The 10 leading causes of death in the U.S. and the related successes of Stem Cell research

   Adult Stem Cells

   Embryonic Stem Cells

   Rank	Cause of Death	Clinical Use	Research Use	Clinical use	Research Use
   1	Heart Disease	Clinical trials underway (muscle & bone marrow stem cells) ; one promising published result	Repair of heart damage in animals	None	Formation of cardiac cells in culture; injected into embryos can contribute to blood vessels
   2	Cancer	Clinical use for many forms of cancer	Treatment developed in animal models	None	None
   3	Stroke	One clinical trial published; improvement in 6 out of 12 patients	Repair of brain and nerve damage in animals	None	Some repair of nerve damage; nerve cells formed in culture
   4	Cronic Lung Disease	None	Evidence of lung stem cell and formation of lung tusse by bone marrow or neural stem cells	None	None
   5	Accidents	---	---	---	---
   6	Pneumonia/Infuenza	---	---	---	---
   7	Diabetes	No trials yet; human pancreatic stem cell isolated; islet transplant working	Reversed diabetes in mice	None	Formed insulin-secreting cells; 1/50th amount of insulin, mice died
   8	Suicide	---	---	---	---
   9	Kidney Disease	Evidence for formation of Kidney tissue from bone marrow stem cell in humans	Evidence of stem cell conversion from boine marrow or neural stem cells	None	None
   10	Cronic Liver Disease	No trials yet; evidence of liver stem cell and formation of liver tissue from human bone marrow or pancreas adult stem cells	Treatedmouse model of tyrosinemia liver disease and acute liver failure in rats	None	Formation of liver cells in culture

   Cause of death information from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). Stem cell information compiled from published research by Do No Harm: The coalition of Americans for Research Ethics.