I remember a trip I took to California to visit a relative. I was on the Atkins Diet at the time and had lost 40 lbs. I explained to someone (who had asked me about it) how according to nature, meat seemed the best thing for our body. Not to ignore other foods, but to focus on meat. She said “between that and Stem Cells, our generation may live forever”. I had never heard about Stem Cells - this was several years ago. It seemed to me my goal was not necessarily to live forever (a lot of religious issues interpose here that would make a different blog entry) but I thought it (and still think it) unlikely medicine is going to find a way for us to live “forever”. Much longer lives, sure - but forever?
I also remember an episode of Babylon Five (a series I really enjoyed, though I did not see all of it) where some alien had a technology that would make humans immortal - but in order to become immortal, each human would have to kill another human. One half of the human race would become immortal at the mortal expense of the other half. I am trying to remember if this alien was doing this out of some twisted motive because she wanted humans in chaos, but I don’t remember.
The argument about Stem Cell Research, before I even heard about stem cells, has never been about stem cells. The idea is that pure cells can be injected into a person’s body to replace damaged or corrupted cells (an oversimplification, but I believe accurate enough for all that). This seems to me innocent enough, and a technology that could really have some amazing effects on health.
Unfortunately, there are a few issues that cloud that clear concept. We search for the truth, being interested, and we are presented with stories that are actually about something else - this is not always the fault of the media (though sometimes I do blame them directly). People, who I believe are essentially afraid of presenting their honest truth or beliefs, have learned in order to get what they want they have to find something semi-related to what they want, something that people will get behind, push that very hard, and when they get a victory, proclaim that it automatically supports what they REALLY want.
Abortion is almost always the hidden topic, though homosexual issues are treated the same way.
Abortion advocates recognize that while most people start in the middle of the abortion debate. It’s easy to see how pregnancy not only dominates a woman’s life (and is quite often unplanned) but can be terrifying. There is no biological function which prevents a woman becoming pregnant because she’s not ready for the life change it produces. Before it is born, a baby is hidden from view (very fuzzy pictures from sonar technology aside). Just what it is or looks like is nearly impossible to conceive. Removing it, like a tumor or other growth, seems impersonal and logical enough. Just like most medical procedures, however, once it is looked into - once someone really takes the time to consider what is happening, an overwhelming majority will turn away from it.
That had to be the first victory in a long series of battles - advocates for abortion had to make it not only avoidable, but actually discouraged to educate people (especially the women who were making this huge decision) about abortions themselves. The overwhelming majority? Women. Women who see that we’re not talking about a tumor or a growth, but a tiny human being, a life-to-be, and that the procedure itself is frightening, disgusting, startling.
It’s interesting how many therapies we support, but there is so little focus on post-abortion syndromes. When a woman, who was discouraged from learning about what was going to happen, suddenly has HAD it happen, and has to deal with it.
The latest battle (and I am skipping the most famous of the battles, and so many in-between) is the so-called ban on Stem Cell Research.
The ridiculousness of the whole battle is that the premise itself is completely distorted and flawed. There is no ban on Stem Cell Research. Stem Cell Research is encouraged as a whole. One branch (and, it might be pointed out, the only branch that has shown absolutely zero results, while other branches have already cured diseases) is under attack: Embryonic Stem Cell Research. And it is only under attack, it is not even banned. There is absolutely no ban on the research itself. There is only a limit on the amount of government-supported research. A LIMIT, not even a BAN. So now, a LIMIT on government spending on ONE branch (and a sketchy one full of controversy) is now characterized as a BAN on the whole concept.
Why is this? Because abortion advocates have seen Stem Cell Research as their latest semi-related issue, a cause they believed they could present that people would accept - after all, who does NOT want to cure diseases, to improve health, to live longer lives? We love to solve mysteries, to overcome challenges, to see and do and experience more. Long, healthy lives are very conducive to that end. Abortion advocates have counted on two things: first, that we would be so interested in the ends, that we wouldn’t care about the means; second, that we would not be able to separate the various branches of the research - that they could characterize all successes in stem cell technology as coming directly from aborted babies.
We have seen many advances from Stem Cell Research. Some advances appear startlingly miraculous - revolutions in health. They have, to this point, ALL been the result of stem cells that came from the patient themselves. Adult stem cells - custom made by the body in question, and therefore perfect for that body - successes go unheralded because they do not advance abortion - and the focus on Stem Cell Research was begun by and is fanned by abortion advocates.
Now we hear that there is a new branch of Stem Cell Research based around birth (as opposed to abortion) that can produce cells nearly identical to embryos. The fluid in which an embryo develops (dare I say “lives”?) is a natural enough place to look for the building blocks of life and health.
I do not believe this issue will go away. Even if an insane proportion of advances in Stem Cells come from non-embryonic sources, and in the long run embryos are discounted as a reasonable place to find viable stem cells, just one victory - just one example of where an aborted embryo provides health to an adult - will be used to justify all abortions. Once that has been done, the abortion crowd will move on to another cause, leaving this industry alone to do better work.
Here’s the question: how much of this viable technology will be damaged and tainted by the struggle that has nothing to do with the core of its mission? How many people will feel uncomfortable using stem cells (even if they come from a source completely innocent of abortion implications - or even a source that encourages birth)? How many people will live with horrible guilt after stem cell treatment? Even worse: how many people will feel a twisted glee or euphoria at using them as though they have advanced their lives at the expense of another?
Move over Science Fiction. Babylon Five itself may not be floating in space, and aliens may not be trying to enrich themselves at the cost of half the population, but thanks to abortion advocates, we are forced to ask these very same questions.
So. Remember we’re not talking about combat, crime, or potential violence - you’re not asked to kill someone charging you with a knife, shooting at you with a gun, threatening to rape you, or even blow up buildings in your country - we’re talking about a life that has not threatened you in any way. Would YOU increase your own life span if it meant killing someone else?
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