Use of Human Fetal Tissue in Research is Morally Repugnant

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Use of Human Fetal Tissue in Research is Morally Repugnant

Research on human fetal life involves numerous complex medical, moral, and legal aspects. It is not always easy, nor desirable, to seal off one aspect from another. Both sides of fetal tissue use will be equally focused on as a moral issue. The topic is a timely and important one because research on human fetal life is reportedly a growing industry and the subject of legal developments both in the United States and around the world.

The argument for fetal research is fairly straightforward. Because of the unique characteristics of cells from human beings in early stages of development, research on embryos and fetuses may provide key weapons in the fight against disease. Fetal tissue holds promise in treating Parkinson’s disease, in ending certain kinds of paralysis, in helping those with diabetes, MS, as well as in treating patients with Alzheimer’s and Huntington’s disease. Others have argued that fetal tissue holds promise for treatment of sickle cell anemia, leukemia, and AIDS. Fetal retinal transplants may be a promising treatment for some 100,000 Americans suffering from old age blindness.

The fight against diseases, especially these serious diseases causing untold suffering for many people, must be continuous and heroic. Fetal tissue use has a promising hope for people in their old age to be and live more sustainable. Even though fetal research does not hold the certainty but only a possibility of cures for such diseases, such possibilities should be realized if one has the resources and there is no moral impediment to doing so. But that remains the question. Is there a moral impediment to such research? ...

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...oul & Wekesser)

The bottom line is that utilitarianism has a derisory view in human character and motives. Man is not good and will never be good which is reflected on the current world scene today. Man will do anything that has a good result yet the process is immoral. Sproul sums this ethic up by stating, “In balancing positive and negative utilities and excluding from the equation the objective sacredness of all human life, utilitarianism arrives at morally repugnant actions” (41).

Work Cited

www.wma.net

www.nota.org

www.parkinson.org/pdedu.htm

www.traditionalvalues.org/fetal/enter/html.

www.brethren.org

Pope John Paul II Evangelium Vitae

www.nrcl.org

Sproul, RC, Jr. Playing God. Grand Rapids Michigan: Baker Books, 1997. 38-45

Wekesser, Carol. Reproductive Technologies. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1996.

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