How to approach this? It’s one thing to debate the use of fetal stem cells for medical purposes. In spite of any research results that show that there can be a positive medical outcome, it can be argued that there are still grounds for research to be carried on, as is in fact being done.
The policy debates in the United States are NOT so much about the Federal government banning or allowing such research – rather they deal with whether or not the Federal government should PAY for such research. President Bush’s veto has settled the issue, at least for now.
This story goes a bit beyond THAT debate.
It seems that foreign (Euro and Caribbean) clinics are using harvested fetal stem cells for COSMETIC treatments – which by the way are NOT based on any apparent valid scientific research at all. The source of the stem cells apparently are the former Soviet Union, where women are being paid $200 to carry a fetus to 12 weeks, and then aborting it for stem cell harvest.
Can you say G-H-O-U-L-I-S-H? Sheesh!
What does it say about the state of a culture that consumes its young in the interest of the illusory and temporary cosmetic vanity of a small number of apparently affluent if soul-less individuals? The Chief doesn’t see how this is essentially any different in principle from cannibalism.
This non-Catholic thinks more and more that Pope John Paul II hit the nail on the head when he warned of the rise of a “culture of death”.