George Bush made his most difficult decision two weeks ago when he chose to support stem cell research. The issue of stem cells is fraught with political danger because it touches very sharply on the question of what is human life, and what constitutes abortion.
Every human being initially begins as a union of sperm and egg to form a single “fertilized” cell inside the mother. This cell contains all the information necessary to construct a unique human individual, and its genes (DNA) are distinct and separate from either its mother or father. How such a small cell, invisible to the naked eye, accomplishes this has been a great unknown for all of human history. But just in the last few decades, advances in cell biology have allowed us to get an understanding of the basic process. Essentially, certain chemical signals turn on and off at various times in the growing mass of cells as it forms the first “embryo” stage of development. When this happens, cells take on characteristics that lock them into becoming certain types of tissue. For example, some cells are locked into becoming brain tissue, while others become muscle, and others are chemically triggered to form liver or lung. The exact triggers are only known in a few cases, and we are a long way from having the complete roadmap embryonic development.
What is known is that the first couple cells that are formed when a fertilized egg begins its initial division and growth, are not “locked” into being any particular type of cell at all. As such, these cells are capable of becoming any type of tissue in the human body, if we could just figure out what chemical signals we would need to use to do that. These cells are called “stem” cells, in reference to their role as the stem of human cell types from which all branches come from.
Many researchers are convinced that a huge advance in human health can come from stem cell research. There is talk that we could someday grow replacement body parts such as kidneys and livers in the lab, or generate insulin making cells to cure diabetes. The possibilities are tantalizing. But stem cells come from a morally complex source. The only known way to generate them is to destroy a human embryo and harvest the cells for stem cell research. These embryos are made available from parents who have undergone infertility treatment, in the course of which excess embryos were created and left in frozen storage. There are literally thousands of such frozen embryos around the country. For many, particularly the Catholic Church and several conservative Protestant groups, destruction of these frozen embryos in medical research is abortion.
Bush drew much of his political support from these sources, and was under intense pressure to ban all federal funds for research on stem cells. On the other hand, the researchers and patient groups were pushing him to go ahead with stem cell research. Bush was clearly torn on this topic, and settled on a political compromise.
Bush decided that no new embryos can be destroyed to generate stem cells, but noted that about 60 stem cell lines have already been created. These stem cell lines can be grown into large quantities and used for research for many years to come. In fact, it may be that these lines are “immortal”, and will not peter out even for decades. These lines came from 60 embryos that were destroyed to make them. Bush decided that federal funds can be used for research involving these cells, but that no funds could be used to generate new lines or for research on new stem cell lines created by private parties. In this way, he is not party to destruction of any more embryos, yet he allows research to continue. It was a surprising and very effective compromise.
From a Muslim standpoint this is also a difficult issue. It turns on the question of what is human life, and when does a lump of cells become entitled to the moral protection of being a human. In Islam, we view the body as a vessel that temporarily houses that which is unique and eternal, namely the soul. At what point in a developing embryo does the soul enter? Is it at conception, as Christian fundamentalists believe? There are some Hadiths that suggest it is 7 weeks after conception and growth. The Quran speaks of man being “created from a clot”. Many Muslims have interpreted this to mean an embryo that has implanted into the mother’s womb. Based on that criteria, the destruction of frozen embryos in a test tube does not constitute abortion as it has not yet achieved the status of a “clot” as spoken of in the Quran. As modern medicine advances, these questions will become ever more pressing. Muslims should ponder and weigh in on these debates as they come up in American society.