We play god every day so, why not allow federal funding for embryonic stem cell research?
We play god every day so, why not allow federal funding for embryonic stem cell research?
Written by Jessica Moccio Thursday, 16 September 2010 12:13
Judge Royce Lamberth overturned the ban President Obama had lifted in March 2009 so that researchers could use federal funds to create embryonic stem cell lines.
According to recent polls, 80% of the population agree with Obama and are in favor of the controversial research. That means even a large number of Republicans and right-wing tea folks are on board with this. Even Congress has passed a bill for it twice.
Stem cell research done with embryonic cells could be much more versatile than using adult cells, or umbilical stem cells, or any other kind of stem cells.. This is because embryonic stem cells can develop into any cell types of the body. They can also be kept alive indefinitely and grown in cultures so they can keep doubling every two to three days.
However, because these stem cells come from blastocysts it becomes a matter of “playing god.”
I must go back to the fact that we play god every day without the end result being as beneficial to society as embryonic stem cell research.
Abortion is legal, it is estimated that there are over 15,000 performed every day. With abortion we have the right to choose or deny life, a life that, unlike blastocysts, have cells that have already started to differentiate.
When a woman has embryos implanted in order to conceive a child, several are created because they don’t always take. It’s common for the “leftovers” to be destroyed. Yet, there is no conservative outcry to save them.
We have the death penalty, so instead of god judging people we make that decision. Again, we take away life. Not to mention that the United States uses federal funding for UAVs, which oftentimes kill innocent civilians.
You can even say we play god with plastic surgery and sex changes; all of those are okay.
Isn't all medicine us playing god? (Just ask Christian Scientists who would rather die than take antibiotics.) They were all experiments at one point, they all are still experiments. Every bottle and every pill has a warning label letting you know the side effects, the possible consequences. Nothing is exact.
So, why can we execute living human beings with federal money but not fund embryonic stem cell research to cure horrifying diseases?
We wouldn't have to kill even a fraction of embryonic cells as abortions since the cells never die and double frequently.
We could cure birth defects. Our soldiers who come home with spinal injuries could be fixed. We could even clone a duplicate of a patient’s own heart for a transplant. Those are the reasons science is so amazing.
The average human lifespan would still be under 50 if not for science, medicine, and playing god. Judge Lamberth has it all wrong. Just ask anyone who has Parkinson’s and can't hold their body still.