“God alone is the Lord of life from its beginning
until its end; no one can under any circumstances claim the right directly to
destroy an innocent human being.”
(Catechism of the Catholic Church, #2258)
Let’s clear up some of the confusion about stem cell
research. A stem cell is an unspecialized cell (not
muscle, nerve, or blood specific). It
has the potential to become any of the tissue types of our bodies. Science has found that stem cell therapy can
repair or enhance the functions of our damaged tissues or organs.
Sources of these stem cells are 5-7 day old living
embryos or aborted fetuses or adult tissues.
The living embryo is killed when its stem cells are extracted. On the other hand, no harm comes to the adult
who donates stem cells from bone marrow, liver, skeletal muscle, intestine, fat
or dental pulp. Adult stem cells are
also available from cadavers and from umbilical cords, placentas and amniotic
fluid.
Adult stem cells have clearly shown great promise in treating
leukemia, juvenile diabetes, spinal cord injury, immune deficiency, corneal
damage and many more diseases. To date,
no successful therapies in humans have ever been carried out using embryonic
stem cells.
Medical science must be conducted in a moral and ethical
manner. Embryos are human and are at the
very beginning of the process of life-long human development. Their destruction, even for the potentially
good purpose of treating disease, cannot be accepted in a civilized, moral
society. Therefore the Catholic Church
vigorously opposes any research that involves experimentation on living
humans. Government funding may encourage
more destructive embryonic research.
Therefore, Catholic teaching opposes embryonic stem cell research and any
tax supported funding of it. The Church enthusiastically
supports the more promising, and ethical, adult stem cell research.
Let’s
do all we can to build a society that respects, defends and protects the gift
of human life.