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By Yvonne Perry
Many ultra-religious people are opposed to blastocyst stem cell research because they think it destroys a human embryo.
In her new book Right to Recover: Winning the Political and Religious Wars over Stem Cell Research in America Yvonne Perry shows scientific reasons why this cannot be true.
First of all, fertilization and conception are not synonymous and do not occur at the same time.
Fertilization of an egg may occur in the fallopian tube or in-vitro by scientific means. It takes only a few hours after the sperm and ovum unite to start the process of cell division.
Conception occurs when a fertilized egg implants itself in the uterine lining and begins to draw nourishment. A pregnancy does not actually begin until the process of conception is complete. This process takes several days and can be confirmed by testing the levels of progesterone and hCG (human chorionic gonadotropin) present in the mothers blood. When conception in the uterus is complete, the fertilized egg can then develop into an embryo.
Fertilization can be done in a lab. As long as the fertilized egg remains in the laboratory, it cannot become an embryo. It can continue to reproduce undifferentiated cells. A 3 to 5 day old in-vitro blastocyst can be introduced to a womans womb, but conception is not automatically assured.
Conception can only occur inside the uterus. Thus, we correctly use the term in-vitro fertilization but not in-vitro conception.
Call it What it is
Incorrect terminology is what has caused a lot of the controversy about stem cell research and there is a great need to correct the language used to refer to in-vitro stem cells.
To call a fertilized egg an embryo is not accurate. As we discussed, an embryo can only develop after conception and conception can only occur in the uterus. Since conception cannot occur in-vitro, there are no embryos in the lab; there are sperm, ova, zygotes and blastocysts on deposit. You would use the term zygote or morula to refer to a one-day old fertilized egg and blastocyst to refer to the mass of cells as they divide and reach the 100-cell stage.
The In-vitro Process
The in-vitro process is for the purpose of assisting couples who have difficulty with the normal processes of fertility. Lets suppose a couple goes to a lab for fertility assistance. Both partners would donate sperm and ova. The lab successfully fertilizes three eggs for the couple. There are now three zygotes that begin developing into a blastocyst.
One blastocyst is introduced into the uterus and the other two are frozen while the couple waits to see if conception will occur. If implantation is not successful and pregnancy is not accomplished, the couple may try again using another blastocyst they have deposited.
Lets say the couple conceives after one try and there are two blastocysts remaining in the lab. Now comes the question, What would you like the lab to do with the leftover blastocysts?
The couple presently has four choices:
1. Pay to have the cells preserved for another attempt at pregnancy a few years down the road (although the shelf life of a frozen blastocyst is not eternal)
2. Simply throw them away
3. Let them be used for research in privately-funded labs
4. Give them up for surrogate adoption.
Ideally, all leftover blastocysts would be used for surrogate pregnancy, but the supply of available blastocysts is greater than the number of people wanting to adopt them. If a couple does not want to continue paying for storage, the lab will likely put the cells in the trash. A better and more sensible use for these cells would be to donate them to research laboratories. Knowing this, it makes no sense why anyone would think it more morally upright to discard the cells than use them for research.
Put aside religious opinion and let the scientific facts guide you.
About the Author: Yvonne Perry is a metaphysical freelance writer, author and keynote speaker who enjoys assisting people on a spiritual path. Her open style of writing is lovingly controversial and challenges peoples belief systems in order to help them grow spiritually. As the owner of Write On! Creative Writing Services based in Nashville, Tennessee, she and her team of ghostwriters service clients all over the globe by offering quality writing on a variety of topics at an affordable price. See
yvonneperry.net
for more information about her writing services, books, newsletter, podcast and blog. Get a complimentary eBook when you subscribe to her F*REE monthly newsletter.
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