Reproductive Technology: Ethical Issues

The existence of stem cells—cells with the potential to develop into a wide variety of other cell types—presents other ethical issues. Placental stem cells may not be able to become every type of cell in the body. In contrast, stem cells derived from developing embryos can. People who believe abortion is ethically acceptable usually have little problem with stem cell collection, because they do not accept the embryo as a person at this stage of gestation.

Most people who believe that personhood begins at conception object to harvesting stem cells from embryos, even from the many thousands of embryos frozen in reproductive clinics that gradually lose their viability as years pass. In 2001 President George W. Bush declared that federal funds could be used for research only on stem cell lines that were already in existence, and that the creation of new lines could not be funded by taxpayer money. Stem cell research is allowed if funded by private sources. Many scientists feel federal money should be allowed to fund stem cell research, citing the enormous potential benefits it can bring.