Dan Coats: “Let me return to the question of the ethical dilemma that is posed with utilization of fetal tissue in research. There…”

“Let me return to the question of the ethical dilemma that is posed with utilization of fetal tissue in research. There is a broad ethical question that affects all neurological research or any research that utilizes human fetal tissue. I have tried to raise some of the questions that I think ought to give all of us pause before we sign off on the use of human fetal tissue in medical research. Does it create an irreversible economic and institutional bond been abortion centers and biomedical science? That is a legitimate question. Because if the cure or alleviation of symptoms for neurological diseases, diseases including Alzheimer's and Parkinson's and diabetes and other neurological trauma, is dependent on utilization of human fetal tissue, then we are talking about the need to supply fetal tissue patches or pieces from up to 20 million abortions, induced abortions a year. That poses a profound ethical question. Second, the question is, by what right will we obtain this fetal tissue? We obtain it with the consent of the very person who has made the decision to end the life of the fetus from which the fetal tissue will be derived. So there is no such thing as consent of the human species, the human being, the human person whose life is ended to provide the fetal tissue in the name of medical science. And is it really possible to separate the practice of abortion from its use in biomedical research?”