Stem Cell Research and Why I Can't Support it

When I was a sophomore in college, I took an English class designed to teach us to write about personal experiences. For our first paper, we were divided into groups based on what our general topic was going to be and were told to discuss it with our peers. My group finished the discussion early and, bored with the assignment at hand, began discussing a very hot topic political issue: stem cell research. They praised the benefits and one called it a "magic cure" to nearly all ills. One girl asked why we weren't doing more if it was such a miracle cure. The scruffy student on my right replied that "those damn Bible thumpers keep trying to stop us."

I hadn't said much until this point. In class discussions, I rarely speak unless no one else is willing to. If there is a rapid fire discussion going on, I prefer to watch and observe rather than actively participate. However, I knew I had to defend my principles. The only reason I object to stem cell research is that one of the most significant sources of the stem cells come from aborted fetuses. It may be only one reason, but it's an extremely important one.

When I spoke, the rest of my group fell deadly silent. I could almost hear their nervous gulps as I quietly explained my reasons for not supporting stem cell research. Once I finished, there was a long silence. Then, hemming, hawing, and excuse-making began.

At this point, you may be wondering, "Well, what did you say?"

I'll tell you that and more. I have tried to find sources as unbiased as possible so that no one can accuse me of simply being a right-wing lunatic and ignore the message I have to share altogether. For this reason, the sites where I have accumulated the information from are mostly governmental and medical sites.

But what is stem cell research? According to The National Institutes for Health, "Stem cells have the remarkable potential to develop into many different cell types in the body. Serving as a sort of repair system for the body, they can theoretically divide without limit to replenish other cells as long as the person or animal is still alive. When a stem cell divides, each new cell has the potential to either remain a stem cell or become another type of cell with a more specialized function, such as a muscle cell, a red blood cell, or a brain cell."
According to the same site, "Pluripotent stem cells are isolated from human embryos that are a few days old…Pluripotent stem cell lines have also been developed from fetal tissue obtained from fetal tissue (older than 8 weeks of development)."

Essentially, the stem cells are harvested from aborted fetuses, a cold term that belies and shadows the true nature of their demise.

If you feel ignorance is bliss, I would not continue any further. I am about to explain how both early term and late term abortions are performed.

An early term abortion is one performed during the first trimester of pregnancy. The two most common types of aborting a fetus during this point are suction-aspiration and dilation and curettage. This description is found at the nonprofitpages.com. I attempted to find a pro-choice site to describe it, but sites in favor of abortion seem strangely reluctant to talk about how the procedures are performed. In any case, if you have any doubts as to the veracity of this description, ask your health care professional.

Suction-aspiration: "The abortionist numbs the cervix and stretches it open. He then inserts a hollow plastic tube with a knife-like edge into the uterus and suctions the baby's body into a bottle. The baby's body is torn apart. Since the suction is much more powerful than a home vacuum cleaner, the placenta-well-connected to the uterus's lining-is also torn away" (nonprofitpages.com).

Dilation and curettage: "The abortionist inserts a curette-a loop-shaped steel knife-into the uterus and scrapes the wall. Scraping is concentrated where he encounters resistance. He cuts the placenta and the baby into pieces and either scrapes or suctions them out into a basin. This method generally produces considerable bleeding-more so than with the suction aspiration. D&C abortions also usually require anesthesia-either general or spinal." (nonprofitpages.com).

If you think those two forms are gruesome and inhumane, you have yet to see the worst: partial birth abortion.

A partial birth abortion is an abortion performed after the second trimester and up until right before the baby would be born. Partial birth abortions are abortions performed much differently than those performed in the early term. The Communications Decency Act used to make it a felony to explain exactly how one is completed (a testament to how gruesome the procedure truly is). Because of free speech concerns, it was later overturned. The following excerpt is taken from congressional record and I have listed the web location of the record under additional resources.

…While maintaining this tension, lifting the cervix and applying traction to the shoulders with the fingers of the left hand, the surgeon takes a pair of blunt curved Metzenbaum scissors in the right hand. He carefully advances the tip, curved down, along the spine and under his middle finger until he feels it contact the base of the skull under the tip of his middle finger.
Reassessing proper placement of the closed scissors tip and safe elevation of the cervix, the surgeon then forces the scissors into the base of the skull or into the foramen magnum. Having safely entered the skull, he spreads the scissors to enlarge the opening.

The surgeon removes the scissors and introduces a suction catheter into this hole and evacuates the skull contents. With the catheter still in place, he applies traction to the fetus, removing it completely from the patient.

The previously mentioned procedures are inhumane and unethical. For those who ignore the fact the we are killing a human being to perform this act of cruelty, read this personal statement of a nurse who actually saw an abortion being performed. (The following is the personal experience of former nurse Brenda Pratt Shafer who worked in an abortion clinic.)

"I stood at the doctor's side and watched him perform a partial-birth abortion on a woman who was six months pregnant. The baby's heartbeat was clearly visible on the ultrasound screen. The doctor delivered the baby's body and arms, everything but his little head. The baby's body was moving. His little fingers were clasping together. He was kicking his feet. The doctor took a pair of scissors and inserted them into the back of the baby's head, and the baby's arms jerked out in a flinch, a startle reaction, like a baby does when he thinks that he might fall. Then the doctor opened the scissors up. Then he stuck the high-powered suction tube into the hole and sucked the baby's brains out. Now the baby was completely limp. I never went back to that clinic, but I am still haunted by the face of that little boy. It was the most perfect, angelic face I have ever seen."

I don't deny that stem cell research could cure a lot of ills, but what price are we willing to pay? Are we so selfish that as long as we are cured, we don't care who has to die because of it? I hope not.

That day in my English class, I explained this very same thing to the rest of my group and suddenly they weren't as much of the die-hard, stem cell research supporters they had been before I explained my reasons for not being supportive. Perhaps they only said they agreed with me to appease me, but even if that's the case, I hope what I said made them think.

If you are still unconvinced, do your own research. Ask doctors, ask nurses, ask politicians, ask anyone! At least do that. You may find out something you didn't want to know, but ignorance isn't truly bliss. It's just ignorance.