Biomedical Engineering Reference
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debate in the US (Wertz, 2002a, 2002b; Ganchoff, 20004). Prior to
the Bush announcement, the regulation of research funding for
human embryos and foetal tissue had surfaced several times since the
abortion wars of the early 1970s. The key issues for opponents of
hESC research in the US are closely aligned to those of the anti-
abortion movement, namely that anything involving the destruction,
use, harm or exposure to risk of unborn human beings is something
to be regarded as deeply problematic.
The US abortion war has arguably been more heated and more
violent than it has been elsewhere (cf. Francome, 1980). Starting
with the Roe v. Wade decision in 1973 that determined that a
woman's decision to terminate an unwanted pregnancy was a private
one between her and her doctor, abortion providers have been
targeted by anti-abortion campaigners around the country (Francome,
1980). Indicative of the intensity of feeling about the value of
embryos, the 'war on abortion' has seen a number of terrorist
activities targeted at abortion clinics since the 1970s. The National
Abortion Federation, a professional association for abortion providers
in North America, has been collecting statistics on acts of violence
against abortion providers since 1977 ( http://www.prochoice.org ).
A table on their website of 'extreme' violence counts over 50
incidents of murder, stabbings, shootings, arson, bombings and acid
attacks (NAF, 2010) in the period between 1998 and 2009 alone.
Bush's decision in 2001 to allow funding for already established
stem cell lines has been interpreted in some quarters as an ideal
compromise between the competing demands of the anti-abortion
lobby and other sectors of the community around stem cell sciences
(Vogel et al., 2001). However, one commentator argues that the
'stem cell wars' were dominated by an intense polarization of US
politics at the time, coinciding with a trend by those on the left to
characterize Bush's stem cell position as a reflection of his more
general anti-science worldview (Darnovsky, 2009). Critics of Bush's
decision argue in particular that he was unnecessarily influenced by
conservative religious values (Campbell, 2005). Yet alternative
analysis highlights that there were in fact a number of competing
influences, including scientific and economic concerns, that shaped
the outcome of the 2001 decision (Campbell, 2005).
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