Questions faith-based people would ask me part 2

“The science: Embryonic stem cells come from human embryos. (An "embryo" develops immediately after fertilization, and is considered as such up until the eighth week of gestation, when it is referred to as a "fetus.") These cells have the ability to morph into any type in the body, such as a red blood cell or a nerve cell. Because of this flexibility, researchers can use embryonic stem cells to investigate potential treatments and cures for a number of human diseases, especially those where a certain type of cell becomes damaged or no longer functions as it should. Some diseases that could be helped by embryonic stem cell research include diabetes, cancer and Parkinson’s disease. Although adults have stem cells, these cells are much more limited in their ability to morph into different cell types: For example, an adult neural stem cell can only morph into a nerve cell. In other words, embryonic stem cells have much greater potential for research.

In 2009, President Barack Obama reversed a ban on federal funding for research into embryonic stem cells. However, researchers whose projects are funded by the government still must use existing lines of embryonic cells, they are not allowed to create new cell lines because the rules forbid destroying embryos, from which the stem cells are extracted. Therefore, the initial extraction of stem cells from the embryos still would depend on private funding.

According to the National Institutes of Health, as long as stem cells are obtained from embryos that were produced by in-vitro fertilization but are no longer needed, and the donors give permission for the embryos to be used for research purposes, federal funds can be used for research on the resulting stem cell lines.” -https://www.livescience.com/55481-analysis-of-rnc-2016-platform.html

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