Wired News: Stem-Cell Method May Cheat Death

"Stem-Cell Method May Cheat Death" reports on the potential derivation of stem cells from a single cell removed from a morula, which we mentioned a week or two ago on this list. Note, though, that they think it will solve the problem of killing embryos, because the embryo it was removed from would persist. The philosophical conundrum is that, if you believe any totipotent cell is human life, when you remove that blastomere from the morula all you have really done is twinned the morula. To someone believing in the sanctity of embryonic life, it might not be enough that the parent morula is not destroyed. The blastomere itself can be considered life worthy of protection. There is a point at which the cells cease to be totipotent as the morula transforms into a blastocyst. If someone could culture stem cells from a blastomere taken from a morula/blastocyst that has ceased to be totipotent -- then we will have really solved the stem cell problem to everyone's satisfaction, I believe. I think the ultimate point is that the stem cell problem may go away soon, leaving us only with enhancement, abortion, and PVS to distract us from health care reform.

Pro-Life? Show it with Child Health Policy

Mark Tushnet, a constitutional law scholar, argues carefully that the most important question about pro-life positions is their coherence. He demonstrates that the problem with pro-life arguments is that they are at best backed up by nominal support for "pregnancy crisis" centers, or for support of children in adoptions. Where is the committed right wing effort to decrease the amount of suffering among children of poor health? Then Governor Bush was much criticized in the 2000 election for the failure of his Texas administration to implement serious child health coverage reforms, for example.

And today? Though there is little federal information about abortion's prevalence during the first W. Bush administration, Christian ethicist Glen Stassen discusses the data that suggests that abortions have dramatically increased since President Bush took office. Perhaps the fear that women quite obviously (and rightly) have about the lack of sufficient child care might play more than a minor causal role in this pretty interesting correlation. (thanks to metafilter.