Should laws permit experimentation with embryos?

Pro: Research that involves the use of embryos promises to help us find treatments for certain diseases and disorders.

The tissues obtained from aborted fetuses may help some patients with certain diseases and disorders. Compared with older human tissues, fetal tissues, when implanted in a patient, grow faster and produce less rejection. For example, the cells from the liver of a fetus, when implanted into a patient, can produce new bone marrow. In fact, scientists have used hepatic, pancreatic, and cerebral tissues of fetuses to treat a variety of neurological, hematological, and metabolic disorders, including Alzheimer's disease, Huntington's chorea, Parkinson's disease, leukemia, and diabetes.

Con: The embryo is a human being and deserves to be treated as such.

Con: The embryo is an entity capable of becoming a human being.

Reply: An entity capable of becoming a human being is not a human being.