Are There Really Alternatives to the Use of Fetal Tissue From Elective Abortions in Transplantation Research?

Abstract

Ectopic pregnancies, spontaneously aborted fetuses, and stillbirths would at best be rare and unpredictable sources of normal, viable fetal tissue. Since the availability of useful tissue from any of these sources is unpredictable, it is difficult for researchers and transplantation surgeons to make optimal use of it when it becomes available. Moreover, the incidence of abnormality associated with these categories of tissue is extraordinarily high. As a result, the transplantation of tissue obtained from these sources may expose the recipients to higher risks than those associated with other possible sources of fetal tissue, and the use of such tissue may slow or interfere with scientific progress in understanding the efficacy of fetal-tissue transplants. The only advantage to using these types of tissue is that some perceive them as raising less ethical concern with respect to tissue procurement. Even if this were true, the moral advantages perceived by some would not seem to outweigh the disadvantages to scientific progress and the increased risks imposed on human subjects that are entailed in the use of these types of fetal tissue.