The Fetus as Organ Factory - The Next Moral Frontier?

http://www.christianpost.com/Opinion/Columns/2009/03/the-fetus-as-organ-factory-the-next-moral-frontier-18/index.html

[The Christian Post] 18 Mar 2009--"Buckle up. We're on our way." So wrote William Saletan, one of the most influential reporters covering today's medical and moral controversies. Saletan writes for Slate.com, and his words made reference to the fact that our world just got a little more complicated . . . and a lot more dangerous.

From London, the Daily Mail reported late last week that Oxford Professor Sir Richard Gardner now proposes that organ tissues from aborted fetuses might represent "at least a temporary solution" to the shortage of available organs for transplant.

As the Daily Mail reported:

Kidneys and livers from aborted foetuses could be given to the desperately ill and ease the organ donor shortage, a leading scientist has claimed.

Professor Sir Richard Gardner, an Oxford University stem cell expert, said foetal tissues may offer a more realistic solution to the lack of organs than other technologies being developed.

Further:

Calling for studies into the feasibility of transplanting foetal organs, Sir Richard, an advisor to Britain's fertility watchdog and the Royal Society, said he was surprised the possibility had not been considered, and that experiments in mice have shown that foetal kidneys grow extremely quickly when transplanted to adult animals.

Sir Richard said: 'It is probably a more realistic technique in dealing with the shortage of kidney donors than others.'