Krauthammer: Stem Cell Miracle?

Washington Post Writers Group ^ | January 12, 2007 | Charles Krauthammer

[xzins]

I have long supported legal abortion

I thought Krauthammer was a conservative.

I'll bear this in mind in the future when I hear him speak.

[Rutles4Ever]

I have long supported legal abortion. And I don't believe that life -- meaning the attributes and protections of personhood -- begins at conception.

What a bizarre contradiction of philosophies. If he doesn't believe that life begins at conception, then why does he feel that destroying an embryo is crossing some kind of line? I generally like Krauthammer, but this is the kind of moral disconnect that makes me question his intelligence.

[silverleaf]

Krauthammer is wheelchair bound and also a physician (psychiatrist) - must make the dems gnash their teeth to not be able to discard his logic by discounting his lack of condition entitling him to an opinion

[jtill]

This is a revolutionary finding. Amniotic fluid surrounds the baby in the womb during pregnancy. It is routinely drawn out by needle in amniocentesis. The procedure carries little risk and is done for legitimate medical purposes that have nothing to do with stem cells. If it nonetheless yields a harvest of stem cells, we have just stumbled upon an endless supply.

And not just endless, but uncontroversial. No embryos are destroyed. The cells are just floating there, as if waiting for science to discover them.

It has been my understanding that amniocentesis can, and does, often cause spontaneous miscarriage. Additionally, if the needle is not placed correctly, it can do much harm to the fetus. I don't see this as a win win.

[mware]

I agree with you this procedure still holds danger.

The best hope for all is adult stem cells and umbilical cord blood.

[MHGinTN]

!

[MHGinTN]

Ping

[MHGinTN]

He is not only wheelchair bound, he was on the President's Council For Bioethics. He is a wise man ...

Even better, amniotic fluid might prove to yield an ideal stem cell -- not as primitive as embryonic stem cells and therefore less likely to grow uncontrollably into tumors, but also not as developed as adult stem cells and therefore more "pluripotential'' in the kinds of tissues it can produce. ... If it is proved that these are the Goldilocks of stem cells, history will record the amniotic breakthrough as the turning point in the evolution of stem cell research from a narrow, difficult, delicate and morally dubious enterprise into an uncontroversial one with raw material produced unproblematically every day.

[ARepublicanForAllReasons]

He is a wise man ...

I heartily concur.

[go-dubya-04]

What's your point? That anyone who isn't pro-life is not a conservative? Nonsense. As a staunch pro-life conservative, I have much more, politically, in common with Charles Krauthammer than I do with a pro-life liberal like Sen Casey from PA. Krauthammer is very supportive of the President's judicial choices. Let's see how the PA senator does in that regard.

[AmishDude]

Faust. Nice comparision. I prefer "snake oil research" myself.

[jwalsh07]

Krauthammer is a very conflicted man when it comes to this issue. I can not explain it really. He supports abortion by redefining life as personhood and then expresses concern for experimenting on human life at the embryonic stage. Very smart man, very conflicted. That's my opinion.

[AmishDude]

Casey is not pro-life. He's a phony who had to run as his father.

[Dr. Eckleburg]

"Snake oil research" works for me, too. 8~)

[VOA]

You simply have to have a healthy respect for the human capacity for
doing evil in pursuit of the good.

"Few things are more powerful than the human capacity for rationalization"

...that's just something I heard in church once...

[xzins]

Exactly.

Anyone who is anti-life is not a conservative. It's not possible.

Conservatives don't deny basic rights.

The most basic right is life.

Without it there is no other that matter. Dead people don't care much about guns, taxes, press, speech, etc.

All those have been stolen from them when they were murdered.

I will take a pro-life anyone over an anti-life anyone any day of the week. That's why Giuliani is no conservative, McCain is no conservative, and Krauthammer is no conservative.

[MHGinTN]

Krauthammer's stance on abortion is more nuanced than some have stated. I don't agree with it, but it is not as simplistic as xharacterized here.