Fetal Tissue Use - Does it promote more abortions or salvage precious genetic materials for ethical purposes?
by Robert Parker
Ties to the abortion debateWhile fetal tissue research and Fetal Tissue Therapy (FTT) have been ongoing in the United States in varying degrees for many years, the 1973 Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision ushered in a new era of debate, with proponents and opponents of FTT mostly aligning themselves as an adjunct with one side or the other of the abortion debate.
Fetus farms or medical breakthroughs?Boiled down to its simplest level, opponents of FTT feel that it would, if unchecked, encourage abortions in numbers well beyond the 1.6 - 1.8 million elected abortions currently performed annually, with the goal of "harvesting" fetal tissue. Supporters of FTT point out that failure to use fetal tissue from abortions denies the only real current hope of dramatic breakthroughs in treatments for neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's or Parkinson's, as well as other non-neurodegenerative diseases. They feel that the Uniform Anatomical Gift Act and other well-established regulations regarding organ and tissue donations would deter abuses, and that it is ethical to use such tissue.
The element of timeAlternative therapies using genetically engineered cells appear to be on the horizon, but how far away in time is that horizon? FTT and stem cell research have shown promise in helping many with virtually untreatable diseases in the near term. Without FTT, the horizon for alternative therapies will probably be reached too late for them.
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