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Looking for stem cell research material.(vanity)
20 SEP 04 | starvingstudent

Posted on 09/20/2004 2:07:01 PM PDT by starvingstudent

Hey y'all. I am looking for info regarding stem cell research. What are the current procedures, laws, etc. regarding this topic. My BIO 202 teacher, tree hugging lefty, is supporting Kerry because she believes he will open up stem cell research. I told her it isn't illegal, just that harvesting fetuses for stem cell research is. She replied that only fetuses produce viable stem cells for research and development. Are there any medical journals I can resource. I am currently looking around on my own but I figured I'd put the request out given FReepers tenacity in finding the facts. FReepers UNITE!!!!! I love this site. Thanks all ss


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1 posted on 09/20/2004 2:07:01 PM PDT by starvingstudent
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To: starvingstudent

Look for an LA Times editorial of late and a recent Charles Krauthammer article.


2 posted on 09/20/2004 2:08:16 PM PDT by Steven W.
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To: starvingstudent
My BIO 202 teacher, tree hugging lefty, is supporting Kerry because she believes he
will open up stem cell research.


It's all about:
1. getting lots of FEDERAL TAX DOLLARS to fund research (e.g., fund research labs, even if
if the research isn't all that promising).

2. politics...trying to make the voter ignore Kerry (Democrats) as
The Death Culture Party.

I'll try to dig up some references, but as far as I've heard:
1. There is NO ban on EMBRYONIC stem cell research. There are just no federal dollars
for it. (AFAIK)
2. EMBRYONIC stem cell research has mostly been a biological disaster...
resulting in tumor. But adult stem-cell research seems to be at least moderately
promising and less likely to kill the patient.
3 posted on 09/20/2004 2:12:51 PM PDT by VOA
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To: starvingstudent

August 9, 2001

Remarks by the President on Stem Cell Research
The Bush Ranch
Crawford, Texas

View the President's Remarks
Listen to the President's Remarks

8:01 P.M. CDT

THE PRESIDENT: Good evening. I appreciate you giving me a few minutes of your time tonight so I can discuss with you a complex and difficult issue, an issue that is one of the most profound of our time.

The issue of research involving stem cells derived from human embryos is increasingly the subject of a national debate and dinner table discussions. The issue is confronted every day in laboratories as scientists ponder the ethical ramifications of their work. It is agonized over by parents and many couples as they try to have children, or to save children already born.

The issue is debated within the church, with people of different faiths, even many of the same faith coming to different conclusions. Many people are finding that the more they know about stem cell research, the less certain they are about the right ethical and moral conclusions.

My administration must decide whether to allow federal funds, your tax dollars, to be used for scientific research on stem cells derived from human embryos. A large number of these embryos already exist. They are the product of a process called in vitro fertilization, which helps so many couples conceive children. When doctors match sperm and egg to create life outside the womb, they usually produce more embryos than are planted in the mother. Once a couple successfully has children, or if they are unsuccessful, the additional embryos remain frozen in laboratories.

Some will not survive during long storage; others are destroyed. A number have been donated to science and used to create privately funded stem cell lines. And a few have been implanted in an adoptive mother and born, and are today healthy children.

Based on preliminary work that has been privately funded, scientists believe further research using stem cells offers great promise that could help improve the lives of those who suffer from many terrible diseases -- from juvenile diabetes to Alzheimer's, from Parkinson's to spinal cord injuries. And while scientists admit they are not yet certain, they believe stem cells derived from embryos have unique potential.

You should also know that stem cells can be derived from sources other than embryos -- from adult cells, from umbilical cords that are discarded after babies are born, from human placenta. And many scientists feel research on these type of stem cells is also promising. Many patients suffering from a range of diseases are already being helped with treatments developed from adult stem cells.

However, most scientists, at least today, believe that research on embryonic stem cells offer the most promise because these cells have the potential to develop in all of the tissues in the body.

Scientists further believe that rapid progress in this research will come only with federal funds. Federal dollars help attract the best and brightest scientists. They ensure new discoveries are widely shared at the largest number of research facilities and that the research is directed toward the greatest public good.

The United States has a long and proud record of leading the world toward advances in science and medicine that improve human life. And the United States has a long and proud record of upholding the highest standards of ethics as we expand the limits of science and knowledge. Research on embryonic stem cells raises profound ethical questions, because extracting the stem cell destroys the embryo, and thus destroys its potential for life. Like a snowflake, each of these embryos is unique, with the unique genetic potential of an individual human being.

As I thought through this issue, I kept returning to two fundamental questions: First, are these frozen embryos human life, and therefore, something precious to be protected? And second, if they're going to be destroyed anyway, shouldn't they be used for a greater good, for research that has the potential to save and improve other lives?

I've asked those questions and others of scientists, scholars, bioethicists, religious leaders, doctors, researchers, members of Congress, my Cabinet, and my friends. I have read heartfelt letters from many Americans. I have given this issue a great deal of thought, prayer and considerable reflection. And I have found widespread disagreement.

On the first issue, are these embryos human life -- well, one researcher told me he believes this five-day-old cluster of cells is not an embryo, not yet an individual, but a pre-embryo. He argued that it has the potential for life, but it is not a life because it cannot develop on its own.

An ethicist dismissed that as a callous attempt at rationalization. Make no mistake, he told me, that cluster of cells is the same way you and I, and all the rest of us, started our lives. One goes with a heavy heart if we use these, he said, because we are dealing with the seeds of the next generation.

And to the other crucial question, if these are going to be destroyed anyway, why not use them for good purpose -- I also found different answers. Many argue these embryos are byproducts of a process that helps create life, and we should allow couples to donate them to science so they can be used for good purpose instead of wasting their potential. Others will argue there's no such thing as excess life, and the fact that a living being is going to die does not justify experimenting on it or exploiting it as a natural resource.

At its core, this issue forces us to confront fundamental questions about the beginnings of life and the ends of science. It lies at a difficult moral intersection, juxtaposing the need to protect life in all its phases with the prospect of saving and improving life in all its stages.

As the discoveries of modern science create tremendous hope, they also lay vast ethical mine fields. As the genius of science extends the horizons of what we can do, we increasingly confront complex questions about what we should do. We have arrived at that brave new world that seemed so distant in 1932, when Aldous Huxley wrote about human beings created in test tubes in what he called a "hatchery."

In recent weeks, we learned that scientists have created human embryos in test tubes solely to experiment on them. This is deeply troubling, and a warning sign that should prompt all of us to think through these issues very carefully.

Embryonic stem cell research is at the leading edge of a series of moral hazards. The initial stem cell researcher was at first reluctant to begin his research, fearing it might be used for human cloning. Scientists have already cloned a sheep. Researchers are telling us the next step could be to clone human beings to create individual designer stem cells, essentially to grow another you, to be available in case you need another heart or lung or liver.

I strongly oppose human cloning, as do most Americans. We recoil at the idea of growing human beings for spare body parts, or creating life for our convenience. And while we must devote enormous energy to conquering disease, it is equally important that we pay attention to the moral concerns raised by the new frontier of human embryo stem cell research. Even the most noble ends do not justify any means.

My position on these issues is shaped by deeply held beliefs. I'm a strong supporter of science and technology, and believe they have the potential for incredible good -- to improve lives, to save life, to conquer disease. Research offers hope that millions of our loved ones may be cured of a disease and rid of their suffering. I have friends whose children suffer from juvenile diabetes. Nancy Reagan has written me about President Reagan's struggle with Alzheimer's. My own family has confronted the tragedy of childhood leukemia. And, like all Americans, I have great hope for cures.

I also believe human life is a sacred gift from our Creator. I worry about a culture that devalues life, and believe as your President I have an important obligation to foster and encourage respect for life in America and throughout the world. And while we're all hopeful about the potential of this research, no one can be certain that the science will live up to the hope it has generated.

Eight years ago, scientists believed fetal tissue research offered great hope for cures and treatments -- yet, the progress to date has not lived up to its initial expectations. Embryonic stem cell research offers both great promise and great peril. So I have decided we must proceed with great care.

As a result of private research, more than 60 genetically diverse stem cell lines already exist. They were created from embryos that have already been destroyed, and they have the ability to regenerate themselves indefinitely, creating ongoing opportunities for research. I have concluded that we should allow federal funds to be used for research on these existing stem cell lines, where the life and death decision has already been made.

Leading scientists tell me research on these 60 lines has great promise that could lead to breakthrough therapies and cures. This allows us to explore the promise and potential of stem cell research without crossing a fundamental moral line, by providing taxpayer funding that would sanction or encourage further destruction of human embryos that have at least the potential for life.

I also believe that great scientific progress can be made through aggressive federal funding of research on umbilical cord placenta, adult and animal stem cells which do not involve the same moral dilemma. This year, your government will spend $250 million on this important research.

I will also name a President's council to monitor stem cell research, to recommend appropriate guidelines and regulations, and to consider all of the medical and ethical ramifications of biomedical innovation. This council will consist of leading scientists, doctors, ethicists, lawyers, theologians and others, and will be chaired by Dr. Leon Kass, a leading biomedical ethicist from the University of Chicago.

This council will keep us apprised of new developments and give our nation a forum to continue to discuss and evaluate these important issues. As we go forward, I hope we will always be guided by both intellect and heart, by both our capabilities and our conscience.

I have made this decision with great care, and I pray it is the right one.

Thank you for listening. Good night, and God bless America.

END 8:12 P.M. CDT




4 posted on 09/20/2004 2:14:16 PM PDT by UB355
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To: starvingstudent
Tell you bio teacher to define which form of stem cell research they support and why. Republicans are against embryonic stem cell research for the obvious reason...it destroys a human embryo

Stem cells can also be obtained from the embylical cord or adult stem cells...all of which can be used sufficiently.

Its also worth noting that absolutely no disease or problem has been rectified by the practice of stem cell research, while other viable methods are breaking ground.

But, regardless, some people just love to destroy human life for some reason.

Here's a link that might help you out... http://www.flacathconf.org/StemCellResearch/StemCellInfoSummary.htm

Its from the Florida Catholic Conference, but its quite informative.
5 posted on 09/20/2004 2:14:31 PM PDT by mike182d
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To: UB355

Thanks a lot. I hadn't read this yet. Is it cool if I print it and give it to my BIO 202 teacher??


6 posted on 09/20/2004 2:27:08 PM PDT by starvingstudent (ask your favorite leftist: "If there is another civil war, who do you think will win?")
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To: starvingstudent

Here's a list of diseases currently being treated with non-embryonic (cord blood) stem cells:

http://www.corcell.com/expectant/diseases_treated.html#current

(And as a former science teacher myself, your Bio teacher doesn't know what the bleep she's talking about...)


7 posted on 09/20/2004 3:58:38 PM PDT by LibFreeOrDie
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To: starvingstudent

Latest on Alzheimers research points to drug/molecular-level therapy, not stem cell therapy:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2004/09/040913085410.htm


8 posted on 09/20/2004 4:03:09 PM PDT by LibFreeOrDie
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To: starvingstudent

More info:

http://www.curetoday.com/currentissue/features/stemcells/


9 posted on 09/20/2004 4:04:57 PM PDT by LibFreeOrDie
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To: starvingstudent

some good articles here

http://www.stemcellresearch.org/


10 posted on 09/20/2004 5:02:54 PM PDT by donnab
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To: starvingstudent

Your teacher is a secular humanist demonic a$$ hole and shouldn't be talking politics in a science class. Embryonic stem cell use is a failure, there has been much more successes with "adult" stem cells found in fat, cord blood, bone marrow, etc.

And tell the idiot prof. that George W. Bush has appropriated more money for stem cell research, including the embryonic lines already in use, than any other president. Embryonic stem cell research is still allowed provided the private sector funds it. Personally I am against all embryonic stem cell use.


11 posted on 09/22/2004 8:12:58 PM PDT by Coleus (www.catholicTeamLeader.com)
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To: starvingstudent
Snake Oil Ron Reagan’s dishonest presentation.

Stem Cells Not the Priority for Alzheimer's

Ron Reagan Shocker: Stem Cells WON'T Cure Alzheimer's

Adult stem cells work there is NO need to harvest babies for their body parts.

Adult Stem Cell Research More Effective Than Embryonic Cells

Embryo Vivisection and Elusive Promises Act--California Stem Cell Research and Cures Initiative

Stem Cells Not the Priority for Alzheimer's

The Stem Cell Cover-Up By Michael Fumento

Lies About Fetal Stem Cell Research [Free Republic]

Stem cells without benefit of embryos

Michael Fumento Interview [DDT, Global Warming, Fuel Cells, Stem Cells, AIDS, Biotech, AD/HD, Etc.]

SELLING LIES (Stem Cell Myths exposed by Michael Fumento)

FREE Book on Stem Cells and Cloning in understandable language

Unborn Children May "Cure" Mothers' Diseases Via Fetal Stem Cells

The “Wrong” Cure Adult stem cells get the shaft.
by Wesley Smith

Alzheimer's gene therapy trial shows early promise Drug slows advanced Alzheimer's disease

*In 2000, Israeli scientists implanted Melissa Holley's white blood cells into her spinal cord to treat the paraplegia caused when her spinal cord was severed in an auto accident. Melissa, who is 18, has since regained control over her bladder and recovered significant motor function in her limbs - she can now move her legs and toes, although she cannot yet walk.

This is exactly the kind of therapy that embryonic-stem-cell proponents promise - years down the road. Yet Melissa's breakthrough was met with collective yawns in the press with the exception of Canada's The Globe and Mail.  Non-embryonic stem cells may be as common as beach sand.

They have been successfully extracted from umbilical cord blood, placentas, fat, cadaver brains, bone marrow, and tissues of the spleen, pancreas, and other organs. Even more astounding, the scientists who cloned Dolly the sheep successfully created cow heart tissue using stem cells from cow skin. And just this week, Singapore scientists announced that they have transformed bone-marrow cells into heart muscle.

Research with these cells also has a distinct moral advantage: It doesn't require the destruction of a human embryo. You don't have to be pro-life to be more comfortable with that.

*In another Parkinson's case, a patient treated with his own brain stem cells appears to have experienced a substantial remission with no adverse side effects. Dennis Turner was expected by this time to require a wheelchair and extensive medication. Instead, he has substantially reduced his medication and rarely reports any noticeable symptoms of his Parkinson's. Human trials in this technique are due to begin soon.

*Bone marrow stem cells, blood stem cells, and immature thigh muscle cells have been used to grow new heart tissue in both animal subjects and human patients. Indeed, while it was once scientific dogma that damaged heart muscle could not regenerate, it now appears that cells taken from a patient's own body may be able to restore cardiac function. Human trials using adult stem cells have commenced in Europe and other nations. (The FDA is requiring American researchers to stick with animal studies for now to test the safety of the adult stem cell approach.)

*Harvard Medical School researchers reversed juvenile onset diabetes (type-1) in mice using "precursor cells" taken from spleens of healthy mice and injecting them into diabetic animals. The cells transformed into pancreatic islet cells. The technique will begin human trials as soon as sufficient funding is made available.

*In the United States and Canada, more than 250 human patients with type-1 diabetes were treated with pancreatic tissue (islet) transplantations taken from human cadavers. Eighty percent of those who completed the treatment protocol have achieved insulin independence for over a year. (Good results have been previously achieved with pancreas transplantation, but the new approach may be much safer than a whole organ transplant.)

*Blindness is one symptom of diabetes. Now, human umbilical cord blood stem cells have been injected into the eyes of mice and led to the growth of new human blood vessels. Researchers hope that the technique will eventually provide an efficacious treatment for diabetes-related blindness. Scientists also are experimenting with using cord blood stem cells to inhibit the growth of blood vessels in cancer, which could potentially lead to a viable treatment.

*Bone marrow stem cells have partially helped regenerate muscle tissue in mice with muscular dystrophy. Much more research is needed before final conclusions can be drawn and human studies commenced. But it now appears that adult stem cells may well provide future treatments for neuromuscular diseases.

*Severed spinal cords in rats were regenerated using gene therapy to prevent the growth of scar tissue that inhibits nerve regeneration. The rats recovered the ability to walk within weeks of receiving the treatments. The next step will be to try the technique with monkeys. If that succeeds, human trials would follow.

*In one case reported from Japan, an advanced pancreatic cancer patient injected with bone marrow stem cells experienced an 80 percent reduction in tumor size.

* In separate experiments, scientists researched the ability of embryonic and adult mouse pancreatic stem cells to regenerate the body's ability to make insulin. Both types of cells boosted insulin production in diabetic mice. The embryonic success made a big splash with prominent coverage in all major media outlets. Yet the same media organs were strangely silent about the research involving adult cells.

Stranger still, the adult-cell experiment was far more successful - it raised insulin levels much more. Indeed, those diabetic mice lived, while the mice treated with embryonic cells all died. Why did the media celebrate the less successful experiment and ignore the more successful one?

* Another barely reported story is that alternative-source stem cells are already healing human illnesses.

*In Los Angeles, the transplantation of stem cells harvested from umbilical-cord blood has saved the lives of three young boys born with defective immune systems.

“‘This [isolating stem cells from fat] could take the air right out of the debate about embryonic stem cells,’ said Dr. Mark Hedrick of UCLA, the lead author. The newly identified cells have so many different potential applications, he added, that ‘it makes it hard to argue that we should use embryonic cells.’” -- Thomas H. Maugh II, “Fat may be answer to many illnesses,” Los Angeles Times, 4/10/01

“With the newest evidence that even cells in fat are capable of being transformed into tissue through the alchemy of biotechnology, some scientists said they are beginning to conclude they’ll be able to grow with relative ease all sorts of replacement tissues without resorting to embryo or fetal cells…‘It’s highly provocative work, and they’re probably right,’ said Eric Olson, chairman of molecular biology at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas…Like many biologists, Olson believes that adult, fetal and embryonic stem cell research all merit support…it’s heartening, he said, that almost “every other week there’s another interesting finding of adult stem cells turning into neurons or blood cells or heart muscle cells. Apparently our traditional views need to be reevaluated.’” --Rick Weiss, “Human Fat May Provide Stem Cells,” The Washington Post, 4/10/01

“In a finding that could offer an entirely new way to treat heart disease within the next few years, scientists working with mice and rats have found that key cells from adult bone marrow can rebuild a damaged heart—actually creating new heart muscle and blood vessels…Until now researchers thought that stem cells from embryos offer the best hope for rebuilding damaged organs, but this latest research shows that the embryos, which are politically controversial, may not be necessary. ‘We are currently finding that these adult stem cells can function as well, perhaps even better than, embryonic stem cells,’ [Dr. Donald] Orlic [of the National Human Genome Research Institute] said.” --Robert Bazell, “Approach may repair heart damage,” NBC Nightly News, 3/30/01.

“[Dr. Donald] Orlic said fetal and embryonic stem cell researchers have not been able to show the regeneration of heart cells, even in animals. ‘This study alone gives us tremendous hope that adult stem cells can do more than what  embryonic stem cells can do,’ he said.” --Kristen Philipkoski, “Adult Stem Cells Growing Strong,” Wired Magazine, 3/30/01

“Like several other recent studies, the new work with hearts suggests that stem cells retrieved from adults have unexpected and perhaps equal flexibility of their own, perhaps precluding the need for the more ethically contentious [embryonic] cells.” --Rick Weiss, “Studies Raise Hopes of Cardiac Rejuvenation,” The Washington Post, 3/31/01

“Umbilical cords discarded after birth may offer a vast new source of repair material for fixing brains damaged by strokes and other ills, free of the ethical concerns surrounding the use of fetal tissue, researchers said Sunday.” --“Umbilical cords could repair brains,” Associated Press, 2/20/01.

"PPL Therapeutics, the company that cloned Dolly the sheep, has succeeded in ‘reprogramming' a cell -- a move that could lead to the development of treatments for diseases such as diabetes, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. The Scotland-based group will today announce that it has turned a cow's skin cell into a beating heart cell and is close to starting research on humans... The PPL announcement...will be seen as an important step towards producing stem cells without using human embryos." --"PPL follows Dolly with cell breakthrough," Financial Times, 2/23/01

“Because they have traveled further on a pathway of differentiation than an embryo’s cells have, such tissue specific [adult] stem cells are believed by many to have more limited potential than Embryonic Stem cells or those that PPL hopes to create. Some researchers, however, are beginning to argue that these limitations would actually make tissue-specific stem cells safer than their pluripotent counterparts. University of Pennsylvania bioethicist Glenn McGee is one of the most vocal critics on this point: ‘The emerging truth in the lab is that pluripotent stem cells are hard to reign in. The potential that they would explode into a cancerous mass after a stem cell transplant might turn out to be the Pandora’s box of stem cell research.’” --Erika Jonietz, “Biotech: Could new research end the embryo debate?” Technology Review, January/February, 2001.

ADULT STEM CELL SUCCESS STORIES

August 27, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) - University of Toronto researchers say they are a step closer to a diabetes cure using adult stem cells. The team found pancreas cells from adult mice could be transformed into new islet cells - the cells that produce insulin. The scientists are hoping the same effect will be reproducible in humans. Type I diabetes, also known as insulin-dependent type, usually begins in childhood and involves the destruction of pancreatic islet cells. The restoration of new insulin-producing islet cells would mean a cure, and eliminate the
necessity for ongoing insulin injections for this condition.

Dr Simon Smukler, lead scientist of the study, told the BBC: "People have been intensely searching for pancreatic stem cells for a while now, and so our discovery of precursor cells within the adult pancreas that are capable of making new pancreatic cells is very exciting."

Meanwhile, scientists at Northwestern University in Chicago, using adult stem cells derived from a patient's sister's bone marrow, have successfully treated the woman for crippling rheumatoid arthritis. The researchers reported that her morning stiffness was alleviated before she left hospital, and now, one year later, she is no longer affected by the disease, and able to discontinue all medications.  The stem cell treatment resulted in "marked resolution of the disease manifestations of rheumatoid arthritis," according to a Reuters news report.

ETHICAL ARGUMENTS

Are unborn children human beings?  Are they persons?  No doubt about it.  The following essays argue the pro-life case... 

  • When Do Human Beings Begin? -- by Dianne N. Irving, Ph.D.  In this essay, former NIH bench research biochemist Dianne Irving demonstrates the scientific fact that the lives of human beings--and human persons--begin at conception.  
  • Personhood Begins At Conception -- by Peter Kreeft, Ph.D.  Professor Kreeft explains what exactly a "person" is and why the various philosophical positions which deny that the unborn child is a person are themselves inadequate.  
  • Is the Unborn Less Than Human? -- by Francis J. Beckwith, Ph.D.  In this essay, Dr. Beckwith lays out the scientific facts surrounding human development and explains why it does not make sense to argue that a human being is created at implantation, quickening, or birth.   
  • When Does a Human Become a Person? -- by Francis J. Beckwith, Ph.D.  Continuing the previous essay, Dr. Beckwith demonstrates why other functional criteria given for personhood--such as sentience, brain development, and viability--are inadequate.   He then refutes the "gradualist" position, which incorrectly asserts that the unborn becomes more and more human as the pregnancy progresses.  Finally, he discusses the positions of various abortion and infanticide advocates like James Rachels, Mary Wollenkott, and Michael Tooley.  
  • Does Life Begin At Implantation? -- by Francis J. Beckwith, Ph.D.  In this essay, Dr. Beckwith addresses the phenomena of monozygotic twinning, hydatiform moles, choriocarcinoma, blighted ova, cloning, and fertilization wastage.  He then shows how these phenomena fail to disprove the position that human life begins at conception.  
  • The Human Rational Soul in the Early Embryo -- by Stephen Heaney, Ph.D.  In this essay, Professor Heaney discusses the various theories of "ensoulment" that permeate philosophical (and theological) discussions on abortion.  
  • The Tiniest Humans -- an interview with the renowned geneticist Jerome Lejeune and the father of modern embryology, Sir Albert William Liley 
     
  • A Rational Look at the Abortion Controversy -- by Mario Derksen.  In this essay, Catholic philosopher Mario Derksen offers a refutation of the pro-abortion positions of Mary Anne Warren and Judith Thomson.   

Some abortion advocates are willing to concede that unborn children are human beings.  Surprisingly enough, they claim that they would still be able to justify abortion.  According to their argument, no person—no unborn child—has a right to access the bodily resources of an unwilling host.  Unborn children may have a right to life, but that right to life ends where it encroaches upon a mother's right to bodily autonomy.   The argument is called the bodyright argument, and it is refuted in the following essays...     

  • The Bodyright Argument:  A Pro-life Response -- By Brian D. Parks.  In this essay, your webmaster gives a comprehensive analysis of the bodyright argument, including a discussion of the various pro-abortion analogues to pregnancy, and a refutation of the positions of Philosophers Judith Thomson, Susan Mattingly, Patricia Jung, Frances Kamm, Margaret Little, David Boonin and many others. 
  • A Woman's Right Over Her Body? -- by Stephen Schwarz, Ph.D.  In an excerpt from his book The Moral Question of Abortion, Dr. Schwarz addresses arguments in defense of abortion that are based on a woman's "right" to control her own body.
  • Unplugging a Bad Analogy -- by Doris Gordon.  In this essay, Doris Gordon, the National Director of Libertarians For Life, refutes a famous argument put forth by philosopher Judith Jarvis Thomson.  
  • A Fetus is NOT a Parasite -- by Thomas L. Johnson, Ph.D.  In this piece, chordate embryologist Dr. Thomas L. Johnson attacks the popular misconception that a human fetus is the equivalent of a biological parasite.
  • Begging the Question -- by Edwin Viera.  In this brief essay, Dr. Viera explains why the statement "a woman has a right to control her own body" begs the basic question in the abortion debate--is she only affecting her own body when she aborts?

Why would it be wrong to kill an adult?  Why would it be wrong to kill a baby after it has been born?  Questions like these seems trivial, but their answers are extremely important to the abortion debate.  What many people fail to realize is that most of the arguments used to justify killing unborn children could be used with just as much force to justify killing newborn children and, in some cases, even full-grown adults.  The wrongness of killing is discussed in the following essays...

  • I Was Once a Fetus -- By Alexander Pruss.  In this essay, mathematician and philosopher Dr. Alexander Pruss offers an identity based argument against abortion.  
  • The Real Problem with Abortion -- by Mark McNeil.  In this essay, Mark McNeil examines two competing positions on the issue--the position of moderate pro-life advocate Don Marquis and the position of liberal abortion advocate Mary Anne Warren.  McNeil concludes that neither position sufficiently explains why it is wrong to kill human beings, and introduces his own viewpoint.  

The Radical Depth and Scope of the Cloning Agenda

Stem Cell News That Isn't Fit For Print

Actress Brooke Shields killed how many of her very own Children by undergoing 7 IVF Treatments?

12 posted on 09/22/2004 8:22:58 PM PDT by Coleus (Roe v. Wade and Endangered Species Act both passed in 1973, Murder Babies/save trees, birds, algae)
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SATAN  Personified

John F. Kerry gives CPR to a dead Hamster yet votes NO 6 times to BAN Partial Birth Abortion!!! Tries to save a Rodent and allows the slaughter of human beings created in God's image.  What does that tell you about his Character?

"had also dived off a dock to save a hamster named Licorice from what the elder sister, Alexandra, called "a watery doom," even administering CPR."

Catholics, John "Horseface" Kerry and Ted "The Swimmer" Kennedy along with Methodist John "Opie" Edwards, 100% Pro-Homosexual with the Human Rights Campaign, Pages 11 & 12

Catholic Sen. John "Horseface" Kerry, 100% Pro-Abortion

Catholic Sen. Ted "The Swimmer" Kennedy, 100% Pro-Abortion

Methodist Sen. John "Opie" Edwards, 100% Pro-Abortion

NC John Edwards (D) Pro 100%
MA Edward Kennedy (D) Pro 100%
MA John Kerry (D) Pro 100% 

Planned Parenthood Scorecard  Read Gloria Felt's Remarks  

Planned Parenthood Applauds Sen. Kerry for Choosing Women's Rights Advocate Edwards as Running Mate

Planned Parenthood Action Fund Announces Historic Endorsement of Sen. John Kerry

View Video of the Rally with Windows Media    

John Kerry (D) John Edwards (D)   Edward Kennedy (D

Useful Kerry Sites


13 posted on 09/22/2004 9:24:32 PM PDT by Coleus (Roe v. Wade and Endangered Species Act both passed in 1973, Murder Babies/save trees, birds, algae)
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14 posted on 09/22/2004 9:25:51 PM PDT by Coleus (Roe v. Wade and Endangered Species Act both passed in 1973, Murder Babies/save trees, birds, algae)
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To: starvingstudent
STEM CELLS
15 posted on 09/22/2004 9:45:33 PM PDT by Coleus (God gave us the right to life and self preservation and a right to defend ourselves and families)
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To: MHGinTN; Hobsonphile


16 posted on 09/22/2004 9:45:49 PM PDT by Coleus (God gave us the right to life and self preservation and a right to defend ourselves and families)
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To: GummyIII


17 posted on 09/22/2004 9:47:10 PM PDT by Coleus (God gave us the right to life and self preservation and a right to defend ourselves and families)
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To: starvingstudent

Click on my name...you'll find some, but I need to update it. Look here...you'll find oodles. I have more links but not on this computer...awesome current research/news. I'll find it and freepmail you with it tomorrow.


18 posted on 09/22/2004 9:50:42 PM PDT by GummyIII (Behind every successful woman... is a substantial amount of coffee. ~Stephanie Piro)
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To: GummyIII

That would be great. Thanks.


19 posted on 09/22/2004 10:13:27 PM PDT by starvingstudent (ask your favorite leftist: "If there is another civil war, who do you think will win?")
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To: Guenevere; tuckrdout

Here is some other stem cell news I recently posted.


20 posted on 09/23/2004 4:38:16 PM PDT by Coleus (God gave us the right to life and self preservation and a right to defend ourselves and families)
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