Summary: The Ethics Of Fetal Tissue Transplantation
A dispute of morals, ethics, science, saving lives and taking lives all wrapped up into one article! The article I am referring to is “The Ethics of Fetal Tissue Transplantation”, by Scott B. Rae. This article covers strong points such as science, laws, ethics, restrictions, and alternatives. With all the information presented in this article I find it extremely unethical to use fetuses from voluntary abortions to assist in medical care. In 1988 there was an experiment done on a 52-year-old man with Parkinson’s disease. They implanted fetal brain cells in his brain. He reported an improvement in his ability to walk and speak. Fetal tissue use is just experimental now. There have been very few successful attempts on humans and the evidence
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One says that a) a woman can defiantly donate aborted fetus tissues, b) she can choose who the tissue goes to, which means women can get pregnant just so they can donate fetal tissue mainly to family and friends. On moral grounds this rubs people wrong because it is creating one life to kill so another life will be saved. Treating it like an object instead of a human. The other stance says that the fetus can be donated but the “mother” can’t decide where the tissue goes. Only tissue from involuntary loss of a fetus may be used with mother’s consent. I myself have experiences a miscarriage and would feel ok with someone using my loss to better a life. There are quite a few arguments against fetal tissue transplants from a woman choosing to abort. Some have said that fetal tissue transplants are the same as organ donations. They most defiantly are NOT the same. This is basic common sense. One, the death of the fetus is a choice made for it by another person and two, there is no way for the fetus to give consent signing their life away, and third, if the fetus is considered “not human” it can’t be considered a donor. There can be so many hypothetical problems if they started chosen abortion and tissue donation. Abortion clinics could see a rise in abortions and people recruiting women to conceive and abort to benefit research. Also, if compensation were part of it, there would be a tremendous increase of women conceiving just for a paycheck.
One says that a) a woman can defiantly donate aborted fetus tissues, b) she can choose who the tissue goes to, which means women can get pregnant just so they can donate fetal tissue mainly to family and friends. On moral grounds this rubs people wrong because it is creating one life to kill so another life will be saved. Treating it like an object instead of a human. The other stance says that the fetus can be donated but the “mother” can’t decide where the tissue goes. Only tissue from involuntary loss of a fetus may be used with mother’s consent. I myself have experiences a miscarriage and would feel ok with someone using my loss to better a life. There are quite a few arguments against fetal tissue transplants from a woman choosing to abort. Some have said that fetal tissue transplants are the same as organ donations. They most defiantly are NOT the same. This is basic common sense. One, the death of the fetus is a choice made for it by another person and two, there is no way for the fetus to give consent signing their life away, and third, if the fetus is considered “not human” it can’t be considered a donor. There can be so many hypothetical problems if they started chosen abortion and tissue donation. Abortion clinics could see a rise in abortions and people recruiting women to conceive and abort to benefit research. Also, if compensation were part of it, there would be a tremendous increase of women conceiving just for a paycheck.