Several doctors of the Medical College of Wisconsin write Op-Ed in JS: Use of fetal tissue is unethical and unnecessary

This commentary was written by Tara Sander Lee, PhD; Kathleen M. Schmainda, PhD; Maria B. Feeney, PhD; William Drobyski, M.D.; Bryon D. Johnson, PhD; and Keri Hainsworth, PhD, all of the Medical College of Wisconsin.

Unprecedented attention has been given to Assembly Bill 305 in the Wisconsin Legislature, which would restrict the use of abortion-derived fetal tissue for research. Opponents of the bill, including those in biomedical research, have openly shared arguments against such restrictions.

However, we, who are also scientists and doctors, do not share this view. We do not agree that research using human fetal or embryonic tissue from abortions or procedures such as IVF is ethical or a requisite approach for advancing scientific inquiry or preventing suffering.

The argument that fetal-derived tissues must be used in research to develop medical treatments is false. Many therapies have been developed using cell lines not of fetal origin, including insulin for diabetes (produced in bacteria), Herceptin for breast cancer and tissue plasminogen activator for heart attack, stroke and pulmonary embolism (both developed in Chinese hamster ovary cells).

continue at JS

Go read it.  Perhaps the most brilliantly logical explanation to date on the matter.

And don't forget this point:

Wisconsin legislators are currently considering a law that would ban the use of fetuses or fetal body parts obtained through abortion from being used in “medical and scientific experiments.” MediaTrackers writes (emphasis mine):

University of Wisconsin officials oppose the plan, saying it will shut down revenue-generating research involving fetal tissue. A Wisconsin Public Radio news update on the legislation claimed:

“A ban on selling and using fetal tissue gets an Assembly Committee hearing on Tuesday. The sale of fetal tissue is already illegal nationally, but the bill would make it illegal for researchers to use fetal tissue in the state.”

MediaTrackers says this is incorrect, and that the legislation “does not prohibit researchers from using fetal tissue,” but would “prevent them from using fetal tissue acquired from induced abortions.”

And this is how we know it's not the science but the ideology that is really at the heart of the matter.

HT GL