Stem cell research is a new and exciting frontier in medical science that is already providing tangible benefits to patients with a variety of diseases and afflictions. Stem cell research can be conducted within an ethical and moral framework, and at the same time provide treatments and cures for suffering patients.
Focus on the Family supports and encourages stem cell research using non-embryonic sources of stem cells, including umbilical cord blood, placenta, bone marrow and various adult tissues (skin, blood, brain, and body fat cells). No human lives are destroyed in harvesting stem cells from these sources. Therapies from these stem cells already provide beneficial treatments to patients (in contrast to the speculative study involving human embryonic stem cells) and such research should be a priority for both public and privately funded research.
Focus on the Family opposes stem cell research using human embryos. In order to isolate and culture embryonic stem cells, a living, human embryo must be killed. It is never morally or ethically justifiable to kill one human being in order to benefit another. By requiring the destruction of embryos — the tiniest human beings — embryonic stem cell research violates the medical ethic, “Do No Harm.”
It is also important to note that, to date, embryonic stem cell research has not treated or cured one patient. To our knowledge, there are no human clinical trials using human embryonic stem cells anywhere in the world.
Position Statement on Stem Cell Research
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