The Ethics of Embryonic Stem Cell Research

(This was a paper I wrote for my Diakonia class on Christian Ethics, from an ELCA Lutheran standpoint)

The Ethics of Embryonic Stem Cell Research

One of the most popular TV shows today is a game show called Deal or No Deal. In it the player is offered various sums of money. All the person has to do is hit the button when he or she feels the offer is high enough to accept. Annoyingly, the people usually don’t have much money, are offered hundreds of thousands of dollars, and they turn it down in hopes of walking away with a million. Usually, the greedy individuals walk away with a few hundred or less.

But what does that have to do with the purpose of this paper? Absolutely nothing, other than it reminds me of one of my favorite episodes of the Twilight Zone.

In the episode, called Button, Button, a husband and wife were given, what else, but a button. They were told that they should keep the button for a week, and then the owner would return to pick it up. Should they press the button, they would receive $1,000,000 in cash, big money in those days. The catch, someone would die, someone they didn’t know, someone who had killed someone else and probably deserved to die. Immediately, the couple both refused to press the button, or even take the button. A life wasn’t worth $1,000,000, even one that had killed another. The owner left the button with them for a week anyway, just in case they changed their minds. As the days past, the button became more intriguing. They certainly needed the money, and the person did kill someone else. This reasoning went on for days. The husband, disgusted by his wife’s disregard for human life, threw the button out. The wife sneakily retrieved it, and eventually, I believe on the last day, finally pressed the button. After all, she didn’t know the person, how would that affect her life. I don’t remember her name, I just call her Eve!

This show made a huge impression on me, it had so many lessons I can’t even list them all. I won’t give away the ending, but if you ever get a chance to see it, do so.

Anyway, that got me thinking. What if you or I were given a button? What would we do? What if you were offered $10,000,000 or maybe more? What would it take for you to press the button? Let’s change it around a little bit. What if the prize was not cash, but life? What if by pressing the button, you still killed someone, but saved someone else? Let’s say, someone close to you, like a spouse, or child? Supposed this person was dying, had cancer or was paralyzed and by killing the person you don’t know, it would somehow save your spouse or child! Would you press the button now?

What if I told you the other person was going to die anyway, but by pressing the button, when he died, it would save the life of your spouse or child? How about if it was a fetus, say a few weeks old? Would you press the button to save your sick relative now? What if it was a fertized egg, say a 4 day old embryo, still merely a few cells? How about an unfertilized egg? Would you trade life for another? Would you trade the potential for life, for life? What if it was you who was sick or paralyzed or blind? When if ever would you hit that button?

In our Diakonia class I once made the mistake of trying to prove a point by separating myself into 2 people, one we will call secular John, the other Christian John. It was quickly pointed out that unless I was schizophrenic, the two John’s should really be one. Not entirely true according to Luther’s two kingdoms principle, but in any case, I was trying to make a point. Either I was a hypocrite, wanting one thing but preaching another, or I was very confused, perhaps even a bit schizophrenic. What it boiled down to is being a Christian in a secular society is not easy and nothing proves this more than the stem cell research debate.

I had heard Bush doesn’t want to fund stem cell research, I had heard Christopher Reeves would be alive and walking if it wasn’t for Bush’s illegalization of stem cell research, I had heard that stem cell research would kill babies, but I also heard, it would save lives. Most of what I heard of course was untrue or unfounded, but I don't want to turn this into a political debate. More importantly anyway, was what I didn’t hear. What I didn't hear was what stem cell research was exactly, and what the big deal was that it had extremists on either side screaming and yelling like we were debating Roe vs. Wade.

So I did some research about the research. In order to decide if something is ethical, you need to know what it is, why it would and wouldn’t be ethical, and what both sides have to say about the issue. You need to get down to the exact problem, so you know what facts to look for to back up your side of the debate or to make an informed decision. Here is what I found out.

Simplistically, Stem Cell Therapy is taking good healthy cells and injecting or otherwise implanting them into a body where bad cells exist. Hopefully, the good cells will replace the bad cells and the person would be cured of anything from blindness, paralysis, and other nerve related illnesses to cancer and other illnesses that destroy parts of your body. Surprisingly to me, Stem Cell Therapy already is in use and working in many countries, including the U.S.
The theory is that we all start out as an egg and a sperm. When fertilized, the egg then multiplies its cells into more cells. Like that old hair shampoo commercial, 2 becomes 4 becomes 8 becomes 16 and so on and so on until we become billions of cells. But not just one type of cell, those original cells have become other types of cells. Some liver, some kidney, some blood, some brain, etc… Since we know the original cells can become any other cell, in theory it is those cells we want.

Apparently, our success with using cells to heal illnesses works, but so far, only with “adult” cells. One example is using bone marrow to cure leukemia. Much progress is also being made with cord blood cells taken during delivery of a baby. As a matter of fact, so much so that cord blood banks are popping up all over the place so new parents can store their babies cord blood cells just in case they need them when they get older. Because it is there own, there is less chance of bodily rejection.

So far so good right? Well, not so fast.

See the adult cells can really only be used to help with a single type of cell replacement. For example, liver cells can be used primarily to cure liver disease. Another problem is they don’t multiply very well. They are sometimes too old. I know the feeling. So, scientists started focusing on cord blood cells. They are closer to the kind of cells they want to use because they can become many other types of cells, they are younger, healthier cells and they are in a simpler, more pliable form so to speak. They also multiply very easily.

Ultimately though, scientists want those original cells, the ones that can in theory, become anything. Those are called embryonic stem cells.

So now the problem, it means killing the embryo. It means, taking a 4 – 10 day old fertilized egg (embryo), and killing it for its cells. The cells are then taken and made to multiply, then injected into the diseased individual where the good new cells would “attack” the bad cells and replace them. Essentially, those who oppose this say you are trading one life for another. Others say it is merely cells, and still others use the term “potential for life”. Does this sound familiar?

The real problem of this ethical dilemma then is do we kill 4-10 day old embryos, babies, cells, whatever you want to call them, to cure a multitude of diseases for thousands of people? In simplistic terms trading life for life. At first I thought I had my answer, “Thou shall not kill!” It all boils down to that, and that is exactly how many feel. Perhaps that should be the end of it. But though this has many similarities to abortion, it did have some things that were different enough to warrant more thought and insight.

What really got me thinking was a conversation I had with a couple from my church, also friends of mine; at least they are still talking to me, for now. I knew their views on many topics. They are staunch, right wing, conservatives. Bring up homosexuality, and you may as well be talking about the apocalypse. What shocked me was the wife was pro-choice on the abortion issue. “It’s killing a baby!” she said, but then continued, “But it is her choice, it is between her and God!” I had to ask, “Isn’t homosexuality between those people and God?” “No” she said, “because that is an abomination and unnatural”. By the way, the husband didn’t know she was pro-choice after 30 years of marriage. He is still on the phone with his divorce lawyer.

So I asked her, what about stem cell research? She said she was against it. After cleaning my ears I asked again. “So let me understand. You are pro-choice when it comes to a woman aborting a baby or fetus, depending on your outlook, but not when it comes to saving lives by killing a 4 day old fertilized egg?” She explained, but I still don’t understand the answer in full to be honest. I did get one thing out of it however, “Life begins at conception!”

So there it was, right in front of me. Everyone agrees it is killing, what they don’t agree on is what they are killing. So the real problem is not is it okay to kill, but rather, when does life begin.

For Roman Catholics, life begins not only at conception, but prior to that, at the “potential for life.” This is the reason the Roman Catholic Church, (and I don’t mean the people that make up the church, but rather the hierarchy of the church) don’t allow for the use of contraception.
The ELCA website had no social statement on Embryonic Stem Cell Research. But considering they allow for abortion under certain circumstances, but don’t encourage it, and it should be a last resort, I figure they had to have a similar philosophy on this topic. They did have some “papers’ or articles on Stem Cell Research, and they made some great points in that direction. One in particular summarizes what may be my current feelings of when life begins. It stated that life may begin at conception, but human life is a gradual thing that happens after time as the fetus and mother bond. This does not happen in a test tube or Petri dish.

However, regardless of when life begins, the truth is, stem cell research using adult cells and cord blood are making great strides, and you don’t have to kill anyone or anything. People all over the world are being cured of all kinds of diseases and it certainly makes me thankful that the human body can only physically last 125 years according to the experts; I don’t think I could last much longer than that! With that said, Embryonic Stem Cell Research is all theory. There is not one case I could find in any country where it worked at all. Not in animals, and certainly not in humans. It is all theory, maybe a valid one, but theory none the less. At this point, why bother with all the fuss.

Embryonic Stem Cell Research should be a last resort. If adult cells and cord blood cells don’t work for certain things and embryonic cells are shown to at least have potential, then I think ethically, using a 4 day old embryo is ok. That is where I pressed my button, but I only would press it after I was sure it could work and nothing else would.

Sadly, there are many other issues that may come up with this topic in the future. One of which is this could lead to cloning, creating life for parts, and more. Some say we should use medical waste, embryos after an abortion, unused invitro fertilized eggs, and more. We need to be careful that one thing doesn’t lead to another and we start to make body parts factories by growing people or parts for the express purpose of selling them to save others or people getting pregnant to have an abortion to save a relative. These are some valid ethical issues that we are not ready to deal with, especially within the confines of this paper.

So on this topic alone of Embryonic Stem Cell Research, the bible says nothing about it. It does however touch on a few related topics. “Treat others as you would have them treat you!”, “Thou shall not murder!” and more. In order for them all to apply here, it all comes down to this. When do you think human life begins? When would you have pressed the button?