Yale University ethicist Gene Outka frames the issue of stem cell research partly as one of urgency -saying that abortion involves a pressing conflict between a pregnant woman and a fetus, whereas limits on stem cell research merely affect patients who in theory might reap medical benefits at some future time.
He also notes that extraction of stem cells can be considered less morally difficult because it destroys embryos at the very earliest stage, while abortion terminates fetuses that are more developed. But some find destruction of even tiny embryos troublesome because, as Outka puts it, the requisite genetic information renders them unique
and all of us begin at this stage.
In the religious world, thinking is varied and sometimes surprising.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, for example, is neutral on the subject, though it opposes abortion as unjustified killing except possibly in cases of incest, rape or serious peril to the mother.
The Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations favors research if it involves frozen embryos that are left over from test-tube baby treatments. And in Islam, many jurists accept work with embryos to seek medical therapies, said Ebrahim Moosa of Duke University.
The Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice advocates full access to abortion on behalf of mainline Protestants, Conservative and Reform Jews, Unitarians and others. The coalition believes the medical potential justifies research that employs the test-tube leftovers or aborted fetuses. 17
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