Torch, Spring/Summer 2007

Spring-Summer 2007 7 I t is a difficult and confusing time in our public discourse. Back in the 1970s and 1980s, social conservatives rallied against the ready availability of abortion. Yet the pro-life movement suffered major setbacks, first in the 1973 Roe. v . Wade Supreme Court decision, and again in Planned Parenthood v . Casey in 1992. The result has been unrestricted access to abortion in the United States. In recent years, the culture wars have begun again, and the debate over human life has become sharper and even more divisive. In the past, the discussion always focused on the rights of the unborn child against the rights of the mother. The new debate over stem cell research centers on the rights of the tiniest of humans, in the form of little embryos, against the rights of researchers to experiment on them in the hope of developing medical cures for a variety of diseases. The background for all this dates back to 1978, when Louise Joy Brown, the world’s first “test tube baby,” was born. Reproductive technologies allow childless couples to combine sperm and egg outside the womb to create embryos, which can then be implanted back into the womb. Yet there may be unused embryos resulting from these procedures, which are often frozen for future use. What is the status of these frozen embryos? Are they persons or property? Many medical researchers would use them as research material, to produce stem cells. Stem cells are the “starter” cells that may become various mature cells of the body. All human beings have such cells. For example, human bone marrow contains stem cells. These are often called “pluripotent” cells (Latin: “many” + “powers”), because each one of these cells can become a variety of different mature blood cells. These include the white blood cells that protect against infection, platelets that help the blood to clot, and red blood cells that carry oxygen. Some organs of the body no longer contain stem cells. For example, consider the muscle cells that make up the heart. If repeated heart attacks damage these cells, they cannot be replaced, and the heart just gets weaker. There is a limit to how much damage the heart may sustain before permanent disability or death occurs. What if stem cells could replace damaged heart muscle? This could conceivably prolong a person’s life. Or imagine if stem cells could replenish neurons in the brain, helping to heal the brain after a head injury or a stroke. The biological possibilities are intriguing. A compelling case can also be made for the use of stem cells to repair spinal cord injuries, to provide new pancreatic cells in diabetes mellitus, or to cure Parkinson’s disease. Where would such stem cells come from? Unfortunately, the stem cells of the