Talking Points (Stem Cells)

• Focus on the Family is dedicated to defending the sanctity of human life.
• Every human, in every condition from the single cell stage of development to natural death, is made in God's image and possesses inestimable worth.
• Stem cell research and cloning methods that destroy human embryos violate the sanctity of human life.
• We support and encourage stem cell research that does not involve or require the destruction of human embryos. This means that:
• We oppose stem cell research using human embryos.
• We support non-embryonic stem cell research.
• We oppose the creation, or creation and destruction, of human life through human cloning experiments, whether for destructive embryonic stem cell research or for a live birth.
• Embryonic stem cell research destroys young human life. It is never morally or ethically justified to kill one human in order to benefit another.
• Scientifically, embryonic stem cell research continues to be plagued with problems.
• Embryonic stem cell research has not treated or cured a single human patient. Trials in animals have been so unsuccessful that researchers have yet to come up with a way to successfully use them in human patients.
• Adult (non-embryonic) stem cell research does not require the destruction of human lives.
• Adult stem cell therapies have treated or cured over 70 diseases and conditions.
• Human cloning – known as somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) – always involves the creation of a cloned human embryo which will either be destroyed for research or implanted for a live birth.
• Human cloning treats human life as a commodity to be created and used, making it a morally unacceptable practice under all circumstances.
• New developments in research – particularly in the development of iPS cells – provide an ethical way to gather embryonic-like stem cells.
• Thanks to pro-life voices, we're starting to see new ethical research.