Does anybody agree that stem cells from an embryo is not taking a human life?

Answer 1

What we might consider is whether the embryo used for research would have been allowed to develop into a person
if the research were not being done.
If the embryo would not ever have become a human being,
what life has been lost?

Every ovum (egg) that a woman has is a potential human.
Estimates vary from 40,000 to 100,000 eggs per human female. Are all the eggs - which do not become babies -
lives that have been lost? Should every woman have 40,000 babies? Of course not.

Close minded people often miss the forest for the trees.
I would like to see research done which might help existing human beings. I do not mind using an embryo which would be discarded anyway.

Answer 2

Creating an embryo to harvest stem cells does create a life, as much as any living cell is alive. However, is this a human life? Well, they are cells that are alive and they might develop into a human, however, they have not been determined yet, so they could be stimulated to grow into what you'd like them to grow into. These cells are alive, and the embryo is alive, and by harvesting the cells from the embryo you in essence kill the embryo. However, was this a human life? It depends on your definition. It was life, that is certain. Does it really matter? Personally, I don't think this is something to get so worked up about, but some people out there have very rigid principles and they don't care to consider the practicality of the situation. If we're going to weight harm vs. good, I think that killing an embryo that you created in a petri dish in order to cure diseases for the living is doing more good than harm... though someone else might think otherwise.

I'd be interested to see how many of those people are okay with animal testing, and eating meat and capital punishment, and war. I guess in the end that's all irrelevant, but I just like to consider all the sides of the issue.

In short, harvesting stem cells from an embryo is killing the human embryo, yes. Do I think that is absolutely wrong... no. I am comfortable with creating the beginning stages of life in a lab and then using those early stem cells that develop for research purposes.

Answer 3

If you create the embryo for the solitary purpose of harvesting stem cells, then yes, it is taking a human life. Cells are alice and when a human egg is fertilized by a human sperm cell, it has 23 pairs of chromosomes. It can be clearly discerned from other embryos under microscopic examination. You may argue that it has not heart, no brain and is therefore just a clump of cells, but those cells are human and they are alive.

Answer 4

yes, i agree.
and i am very much a strong Christian.
i went to a genetics conference over completing the human genome, and there was also a lot of discussion about stem cell.
the cells are taken at a point where the individual cells have not yet become distinguishable. (whether it will be a muscular cell, bone cell, etc.) since these are groups of individual cells, and not yet an organism, i believe it is okay to use them to grow better, healthy cells for those who need them.

*edit*
and it is almost comical the way some people believe stem cell to be the process of taking cells from the brain stem of fetuses. yes, i have actually heard that argument before.