“[Human life] cannot be wrongfully destroyed without incurring the wrath of a holy God, who views the destruction of His image as an affront to Himself.”
—Alabama Supreme Court Justice Tom Parker
Thomas Jefferson, the founder of the Republican Party, called for a “wall of separation” between church and state.
Now, Trump, and the conservative justices he empowers, are actively destroying this wall. Abortion is being tossed around as if it were a purely religious, political issue and not a female bodily right. The usage of embryonic stem cells, however, must not suffer the same fate.
You’ve probably heard of embryonic stem cells (ESCs) in conjunction with In vitro fertilization (IVF) — IVF is currently the only mechanism in which scientists can obtain ESCs reliably.
During traditional conception, one embryo implants into a woman’s uterus. During IVF however, most clinics produce multiple embryos by combining multiple egg and sperm cells in the laboratory. The practice exists for three different reasons: the first is that not all in vitro fertilizations will result in a successful, viable embryo and clinics want to account for failure; the second, that these embryos can be frozen for future use, making the procedure significantly cheaper in the future; and the third, that depending on the doctor’s discretion, more than one embryo can be implanted into the woman’s uterus at a time.
Many women who choose to undergo the expensive, stressful, and risky procedure of IVF do so due to fertility issues or old age. Embryos often don’t stick onto the woman’s uterus properly, and having multiple embryos gives the woman a better chance of success.
When IVF is successful, or the patients choose to stop participating in the procedure, the unused embryos may be frozen or discarded. Freezing and storing embryos take money, and there is limited space in clinics, so they’re often discarded. This is where scientists come in and extract ESCs for research, refocusing and repurposing. Once the ESCs are extracted from the inner cell mass, the embryo is no longer viable. The change is why Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Tom Parker cited Christian ideology and the Bible to argue for anti-IVF, and therefore anti-ESC legislation.
Putting fundamental principles of secular government aside, many people don’t realize how devastating this would be for the advancement of American scientific research.
ESCs are irreplaceable due to their pluripotency, meaning they are able to differentiate into any cell type and infinitely self-renew. Though there have been advancements made to artificially induce an ESC-like state from adult stem cells, ESC flexibility and versatility still remain more viable compared to their lab-created counterparts.
The time and money it takes to obtain these artifically-induced pluripotent adult stem cells also means that stem cell research becomes inaccessible to smaller laboratories without large-scale funding, and that even in larger laboratories, research would have to be scaled down severely. Moreover, natural stem cells are thought to exhibit more antigens (cell markers), meaning they are more likely to be rejected when transplanted from donor to host (although promisingly, there may come a future where you can transplant your own adult stem cells into your own body).
Essentially, ESCs are like the wild card of cells. They provide a blank slate for researchers to observe disease progression, and offer revolutionary solutions for debilitating health conditions like Alzheimer’s, cancer, heart failure, spinal cord injuries, and diabetes. The latter, termed “regenerative medicine,” involves reprogramming ESCs into cells that produce whatever a specific patient is missing. For example, ESCs may be programmed to become insulin-producing beta cells in a diabetic person’s body, or bone marrow cells that produce red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets in an immune-compromised cancer patient.
On a similar note, ESCs may also be able to differentiate on their own, and researchers are working towards inducing ESC differentiation into fully functioning organs. Considering the fact that 17 people die daily waiting for an organ transplant, this type of research is life-changing for millions of people around the world.
These examples of stem cell research only touch the surface of what this field of science truly encompasses. ESCs also may be used for drug testing and discovery, treatment for blindness and epilepsy, and other forms of scientific innovation not yet discovered. Endangering its place in the research field by framing its use as political means shutting the only door of hope for many patients. Abortion may have been on the ballot this election, but stem cell research remains a promising mode of research worth protecting. Officials in the coming years must promote that separation as they continue to legislate into the second Trump administration.
