Embryonic stem cell research holds unique promise for developing therapies for currently incurable diseases and conditions, and for important biomedical research. However, the process through which embryonic stem cells are obtained involves the destruction of early human embryos. Katrien Devolder focuses on the tension between the popular view that an embryo should never be deliberately harmed or destroyed, and the view that embryonic stem cell research, because of its enormous promise, must go forward. She provides an in-depth ethical analysis of the major philosophical and political attempts to resolve this tension. One such attempt involves the development of a middle ground position, which accepts only types or aspects of embryonic stem cell research deemed compatible with the view that the embryo has a significant moral status. An example is the position that it can be permissible to derive stem cells from embryos left over from in vitro fertilisation but not from embryos created for research. Others have advocated a technical solution. Several techniques have been proposed for deriving embryonic stem cells, or their functional equivalents, without harming embryos. An example is the induced pluripotent stem cell technique. Through highlighting inconsistencies in the arguments for these positions, Devolder argues that the central tension in the embryonic stem cell debate remains unresolved. This conclusion has important implications for the stem cell debate, as well as for policies inspired by this debate.

"The Ethics of Fetal Research" distinguishes between the legal and ethical questions raised by experimentation on still-living human fetuses. Paul Ramsey first outlines the various types of fetal research now being done and grants their potential benefits. He then describes the development of proposed American guidelines up to the National Research Act, passed by Congress in 1974, and compares these guidelines with England's recent "Peel Report." In considering the moral and ethical problems involved in fetal research, Ramsey deals with ways in which medical policy is formulated in the United States.

This book addresses the ethical problems in maternal-fetal medicine which impact directly on clinical practice.

This book discusses ‘how’ to respectfully and responsibly include pregnant women in clinical research. In sharp contrast, the existing literature predominantly focuses on the reasons ‘why’ the inclusion of pregnant women in clinical research is necessary – viz., to develop effective treatments for women during pregnancy, to promote fetal safety, to reduce harm to women and fetuses from suboptimal care, and to allow access to the benefits of research participation. This book supports the shift to a new default position, whereby pregnant women are included in clinical research unless researchers argue convincingly for their exclusion. This shift raises many as yet unexplored ethical and policy questions about existing barriers to the equitable inclusion of pregnant women in research. This book is original in three key ways. First, it presents an unparalleled depth of analysis of the ethics of research with pregnant women, bringing together many of the key authors in this field as well as experts in research ethics and in vulnerability who have not previously applied their work to pregnant women. Second, it includes innovative theoretical work in ethics and disease specific case studies that highlight the current complexity and future challenges of research involving pregnant women. Third, the book brings together authors who argue both for and against including more pregnant women in formal clinical trials.

A broad critical review of national policies on biomedical research - human, epidemiologic, clinical trials, genetic, reproductive, etc.

By all indicators, the reproductive health of Americans has been deteriorating since 1980. Our nation is troubled by rates of teen pregnancies and newborn deaths that are worse than almost all others in the Western world. Science and Babies is a straightforward presentation of the major reproductive issues we face that suggests answers for the public. The book discusses how the clash of opinions on sex and family planning prevents us from making a national commitment to reproductive health; why people in the United States have fewer contraceptive choices than those in many other countries; what we need to do to improve social and medical services for teens and people living in poverty; how couples should "shop" for a fertility service and make consumer-wise decisions; and what we can expect in the futureâ€"featuring interesting accounts of potential scientific advances.

Many diseases earlier considered to be incurable are now being treated with modern innovations involving fetal tissue transplants and stem cells derived from fetal tissues. Fetal tissues are the richest source of fetal stem cells as well as other varying states of differentiated cells and support or stromal cells. The activity of such stem cells is at their peak provided they are given the correct niche. Stem cells, as we know, are immortal cells with the capacity to regenerate into any kind of differentiated cell as per niche-guidance. As such, fetal tissues have the potential capacity to mend, regenerate and repair damaged cells or tissues in adults, when directly transplanted to the site of injury, or even when transplanted in some other site, because it may have a homing capacity to migrate to the site of the specific injured organ. This is a new area of translational research and needs to be highlighted because of its immense potential. This book will bring together the new work of prominent medical scientists and clinicians who are conducting pioneering research in human fetal tissue transplantation. This will include direct transplant of healthy fetal tissue into mature patients as well as in hosts with genetic diseases. Transplant techniques, donor-host interaction, cell and tissue storage, ethical and legal issues, are some of the many matters which the book will deal with.

How can someone who condemns hunting, animal farming, and animal experimentation also favor legal abortion, which is the deliberate destruction of a human fetus? The authors of Beating Hearts aim to reconcile this apparent conflict and examine the surprisingly similar strategic and tactical questions faced by activists in the pro-life and animal rights movements. Beating Hearts maintains that sentience, or the ability to have subjective experiences, grounds a being's entitlement to moral concern. The authors argue that nearly all human exploitation of animals is unjustified. Early abortions do not contradict the sentience principle because they precede fetal sentience, and Beating Hearts explains why the mere potential for sentience does not create moral entitlements. Late abortions do raise serious moral questions, but forcing a woman to carry a child to term is problematic as a form of gender-based exploitation. These ethical explorations lead to a wider discussion of the strategies deployed by the pro-life and animal rights movements. Should legal reforms precede or follow attitudinal changes? Do gory images win over or alienate supporters? Is violence ever principled? By probing the connections between debates about abortion and animal rights, Beating Hearts uses each highly contested set of questions to shed light on the other.