Posted on 05/11/2007 3:23:52 AM PDT by don-o
Opposition to the abuse of women in the acquisition of human ova for research has brought together an unlikely coalition: pro-life and pro-choice activists.
According to pro-family Cara Cook, conservative Christian activists like herself have been willing to work together with feminist women's health advocates on the single issue of opposing egg-harvesting because of health risks to women.
"In the last year alone, two women who have undergone egg extraction in the United Kingdom have died after developing severe ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS), which causes rapid accumulation of fluid in the abdomen, chest, and around the heart. Symptoms include severe pelvic pain, nausea, vomiting, weight gain, ovarian enlargement, respiratory problems, blood clots and liver dysfunction," says Cook, who is operations assistant for Concerned Women for America and a graduate of Notre Dame University.
Opponents argue that if egg harvesting becomes widely used for the purposes of stem- cell research and therapeutic cloning, the number of cases of severe OHSS will rise considerably. Dr. David Prentice of the Family Research Council points out that of the 80 million women who would be required for egg harvesting to treat diabetes alone, as many as 800,000 would experience OHSS.
According to Dr. Diane Beeson of California State University, the global opposition to human egg-harvesting was accelerated by last year's revelations that Korea's Dr. Hwang Woo-Suk had coerced subordinates and exploited paid "donors" for more than 2,000 human eggs which were harvested, used, and destroyed in his unsuccessful cloning research efforts.
Dr. Beeson, a scholar affiliated with the Institute on Biotechnology and the Human Future is one of the organizers of the international campaign "Hands Off Our Ovaries."
Although some feminist groups simply want better regulation of the acquisition of human "experimental materials," Hands Off has taken the more comprehensive approach of opposing all egg harvesting for the purpose of human cloning research. Hands Off 's predecessor, the Pro-Choice Coalition Against Proposition 71, highlighted the grave women's health hazards posed by human embryonic stem cell experimentation in California in 2004; and Hands Off joined forces with conservative Christian groups against Amendment Two, Missouri's 2006 human cloning measure.
Dr. Beeson said that, although having pro-life and pro-choice women working together on this issue is sensitive and difficult, it also opens up new perspectives.
Josephine Quintavalle, a Catholic member of the Hands Off advisory board working in the UK and Europe, has encouraged a similar coalition of pro-choice/pro-life activists in Rome.
"They are doing very interesting work, far wider in scope in fact than the Hands Off coalition itself, she said. They are sharing information and exploring the anti-woman dangers of a whole spectrum of new reproductive technologies."
"Women's health advocates must align with people across the political spectrum, regardless of where they stand on abortion per se, on the issue of protecting women from these dangerous and dehumanizing technologies," says Dr. Beeson, who is a supporter of legal abortion. "I am not willing to give up and let women, especially poor women, be turned into suppliers of human 'raw material' for the biotech industry."
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It's very possible, Mrs. D.
Excellent discussion!
How about, “Hands off my seat belt!” I imagine most if not all the scurrilious baby killing hags were in favor or mandatory seat belts and air bags.
Great post! Question: would you like to be put back on my ping list?
Yes, thank you, Pyro my friend.
I’m really glad that both sides are able to find common ground here. Pro-lifers realize it is dangerous for women, but we also realize it is immoral to create embryos to experiment on. Killing or endangering another person for the sake of research or cloning is horrendous. The pro-choicers see only the danger to women aspect. Afterall, women are likely to be desparate and coerced into this for some easy money without knowledge of the risks to themselves.
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Perhaps that would depend on which country one lives in.
Do you think men would step up to donate sperm if they knew there would be long term adverse affects? Would they research it first? There are plenty of reasons that infertility is such a problem for more women than there were two or three decades ago, this is going to complicate it even more.
College students don’t really think in terms of what effect will this have on my marriage and wanting a family in 10 years.
Nevertheless, if they'll oppose it, I can't complain.
Every step in the direction of treating human beings with decency and consideration, is a step in the right direction, and reinforces every other area of decency and respect. Those who really love women, will eventually love those who are intimately connected to women -— our fathers, husbands and brothers -— and then our children, born and unborn.
It’s like mosaic pieces. The more pieces -— miniature images of God-— you put in place, the more likely you will finally discern the Big Picture, the Creator of all.
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