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Stem Cells, Cloning, And Abortion: Making Careful Distinctions, Dena S. Davis

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

The current controversy over federal funding for research involving stem cells derived from very early embryos is situated between two other equally difficult issues: abortion and cloning. As Laurie Zoloth (2002) says, talk about stem cells is "directly proximate" to the abortion debate. Nonetheless, a settled position in favor of abortion rights does not necessarily lead to support for research that involves the death of embryos. Nor should opposition to reproductive cloning necessarily entail opposition to therapeutic cloning. There are important ways in which our attitudes toward research with embryonic stem cells ought to be entwined with our thinking about …