Attitudes of women to fetal tissue research.

Abstract

The use of human fetal tissue for scientific research has enormous potential but is subject to government legislation. In the United Kingdom the Polkinghorne Committee's guidelines were accepted by the Department ofHealth in 1990. These guidelines set out to protect women undergoing termination ofpregnancy from exploitation but in so doing may significantly restrict potential research. Although the committee took evidence from a wide variety of experts they did not seek the views of the general public. We asked 108 women about to have a therapeutic abortion; 167 women who had had a pregnancy terminated in the past, and 419 women who had never had an abortion, their views on research using human fetal tissue. Regardless of their past experiences the women were overwhelmingly in favour of research using fetal tissue (94 per cent). They made little distinction between basic research and research with obvious clinical relevance and supported the concept of using transplanted fetal tissue for the treatment of adult disease such as Parkinsonism. Women about to undergo an abortion were significantly more likely (p<0 001) to approve of all types of research including that aimed at improving methods of abortion and research using live fetuses in utero.

Strong Public Support for Treatment and Research Using Fetal Tissue, Particularly Among Those Accepting the Scientific World-View

“…The questions on treatment and research using fetal tissue have not yet been asked for general population samples in other countries, so we cannot generalize with any certainty (31). However, Western nations share many social attitudes (32,33) and cross-national data on evolution and abortion (two key influences on attitudes towards the use of fetal tissue), suggest that Australian opinion is similar to that in many other developed nations for which we have data (Fig.…”

Derivation of stem cells from human embryos: the principled arguments of potential donors and recipients

“…Notes 1. Of 793 women considering therapeutic abortion, 94% did not have a problem with fetal tissue being used in medical research (Anderson et al 1994); a more recent study showed that women's initial enthusiasm waned when they learned more about the research procedure (Pfeffer 2008 (2005) survey of 2432 adults revealed 68% thought it acceptable to use "spare" embryos up to the 14th day for medical research, but 46% opposed creation of embryos solely for this purpose. 3.…”

Ethical Issues in Pharmacologic Research in Women Undergoing Pregnancy Termination: A Systemic Review and Survey of Researchers

“…Their opinions were not different from those of surveyed women [23]. According to Anderson et al, 94% of women feel that fetal tissue research was justifiable and 84% say they would allow this sort of research to be done on their own fetus [23].…”