Stem Cell Research
• What Stem Cells Are
• What the Catholic Church says about it
• Why the Catholic Church is against Embryonic
Stem Cell Research
• Stem cells are
unspecialized cells of
a multicellular organism
that are capable of
giving rise to
indefinitely more cells
of the same type that
can change into
specialized cells like a
lung tissue, kidney tissue
and nervous tissue.
• There are two different types of stem cells, Embryonic Stem Cells,
which are obtained from embryos, fetuses, & placenta, and Somatic
Stem Cells, obtained from adult tissue
• Embryonic Stem Cells
• “Embryonic stem cells, as their name suggests, are derived from embryos.
Most embryonic stem cells are derived from embryos that develop from eggs
that have been fertilized in vitro—in an in vitro fertilization clinic—and then
donated for research purposes with informed consent of the donors. They
are not derived from eggs fertilized in a woman's body.”1
• Adult Stem Cells
• “An adult stem cell is thought to be an undifferentiated cell, found among
differentiated cells in a tissue or organ that can renew itself and can
differentiate to yield some or all of the major specialized cell types of the
tissue or organ. The primary roles of adult stem cells in a living organism are
to maintain and repair the tissue in which they are found. Scientists also use
the term somatic stem cell instead of adult stem cell, where somatic refers to
cells of the body.”2
• “The Church supports most stem cell research which typically contains
cells from adult tissue, umbilical cord blood, and other sources. This
type of research poses no moral problem. On the other hand, the
ethical issue involved in embryonic stem cell research is that
researchers must harvest stem cells from living human embryos, thus
destroying them. Scientists do this by collecting or harvesting stem
cells from the very early stages of a fertilized egg, called a
blastocyst” 3
• This quote is saying that the Church fully supports the stem cell
research because in it, scientists can make advancements that can
hopefully one day cure cancer or other diseases, but what crosses the
line of the Catholic Church is the taking of stem cells from embryos of
unborn children, which would be taken from aborting them.
•
•
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The inalienable right to life of every innocent human individual is a constitutive element of a civil
society and its legislation:
"The inalienable rights of the person must be recognized and respected by civil society and the
political authority. These human rights depend neither on single individuals nor on parents; nor
do they represent a concession made by society and the state; they belong to human nature
and are inherent in the person by virtue of the creative act from which the person took his
origin. Among such fundamental rights one should mention in this regard every human being's
right to life and physical integrity from the moment of conception until death."80
•
•
"The moment a positive law deprives a category of human beings of the protection which civil
legislation ought to accord them, the state is denying the equality of all before the law. When
the state does not place its power at the service of the rights of each citizen, and in particular
of the more vulnerable, the very foundations of a state based on law are undermined. . . . As a
consequence of the respect and protection which must be ensured for the unborn child from the
moment of conception, the law must provide appropriate penal sanctions for every deliberate
violation of the child's rights."81
2274
Since it must be treated from conception as a person, the embryo must be defended in its
integrity, cared for, and healed, as far as possible, like any other human being.
Prenatal diagnosis is morally licit, "if it respects the life and integrity of the embryo and the
human fetus and is directed toward its safeguarding or healing as an individual. . . . It is
gravely opposed to the moral law when this is done with the thought of possibly inducing an
abortion, depending upon the results: a diagnosis must not be the equivalent of a death
sentence.“ 4
• What this excerpt from the Catechism is saying is that the
Embryo of a human being should be protected from conception
to natural death and when its not, it is an injustice to civil society
because it is on the same level as murdering someone. This
pertains to the reason the Catholic Church is against Embryonic
Stem Cell research in some aspects because the embryos are
coming from aborted children.
• 63. “This evaluation of the morality of abortion is to be applied also to the
recent forms of intervention on human embryos which, although carried out
for purposes legitimate in themselves, inevitably involve the killing of those
embryos. This is the case with experimentation on embryos, which is becoming
increasingly widespread in the field of biomedical research and is legally
permitted in some countries. Although "one must uphold as licit procedures
carried out on the human embryo which respect the life and integrity of the
embryo and do not involve disproportionate risks for it, but rather are
directed to its healing, the improvement of its condition of health, or its
individual survival,” it must nonetheless be stated that the use of human
embryos or fetuses as an object of experimentation constitutes a crime
against their dignity as human beings who have a right to the same respect
owed to a child once born, just as to every person. This moral condemnation
also regards procedures that exploit living human embryos and fetusessometimes specifically "produced" for this purpose by in vitro fertilizationeither to be used as "biological material" or as providers of organs or tissue
for transplants in the treatment of certain diseases. The killing of innocent
human creatures, even if carried out to help others, constitutes an absolutely
unacceptable act.”” 5
What this quote from Pope John Paul II is saying is basically the
same as the catechism’s: Stem Cell Research is completely fine in
the eyes of the Church, so long as the embryonic stem cells they
obtain aren’t from aborted fetuses.
• Genesis 1:26-30 “Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our
likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the
birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over
every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in his
own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he
created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful
and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish
of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that
moves on the earth.” And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant
yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in
its fruit. You shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth and to
every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth,
everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for
food.” And it was so”
• For a third time, the sanctity of life is being focused on. In this passage, God
is saying he created us in His image and killing a baby in the womb for stem
cell research is killing one of God’s kids.
• Stem Cell research isn’t bad. It actually is extremely important
to science, as it could lead to the cure of many diseases within
the body.
• What the Catholic Church has against stem cell research is in
the Embryonic Stem Cell research branch, in which the scientists
take the embryos from aborted babies to get these stem cells.
1:"Frequently Asked Questions." What Are Adult Stem Cells? [Stem
Cell Information]. Web. 22 Oct. 2013.
http://stemcells.nih.gov/info/basics/pages/basics3.aspx
2:"Frequently Asked Questions." What Are Embryonic Stem Cells?
[Stem Cell Information].Web. 22 Oct. 2013.
http://stemcells.nih.gov/info/basics/pages/basics4.aspx
3:Pennock, Michael. Catholic Social Teaching: Learning & Living
Justice. Notre Dame, IN: Ave Maria, 2007. Print. Pg 84
4:"From the Catechism." WTCT: Stem Cell and Cloning. Web. 23 Oct.
2013 2273-2274
5:"Evangelium Vitae, John Paul II, 25 March 1995." Evangelium Vitae,
John Paul II, 25 March 1995. Web. 23 Oct. 2013.
http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/encyclicals/docum
ents/hf_jp-ii_enc_25031995_evangelium-vitae_en.html