American society is currently involved
in debates, often heated, concerning
the issues surrounding the level
of respect due to human life, particularly
those lives which are just beginning
and those which are nearing their
end. In our representative democracy
it is necessary that we have these
debates and that we come to a just
and equitable conclusion on the
issues.
The terms and phrases used to frame
these debates are critically important.
The meaning of these terms and a
common understanding of their meaning
by all sides of the debate is necessary
for the debates themselves to have
any value and for any resulting
conclusions to have any level of
acceptance.
Because these issue involve increasingly
complex scientific, social, and
moral issues and because most of
the debaters have personal experience
with these issues the terms are
often misunderstood or are understood
differently.
More poisonously, many of these
terms have been deliberately misrepresented
by one or the other side of the
debates. Often these misrepresented
terms skew the debate dramatically.
One example is the substitution
of the term “SCNT” or
“Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer”
for the term “Cloning”.
Polls have shown that this substitution
of terms more than doubles the public’s
acceptance of human cloning which
they would otherwise reject. The
result is that people are often
being mislead into supporting laws
and public financing which are contrary
to their actual desires.
The impact of the misuse of the
term “human Cloning”
was made egregiously clear in the
voting in Missouri in November 2006
to amend the State Constitution
to “Ban Human Cloning”
. Voters approved the amendment
not realizing that it in fact legalized
human cloning in what was labeled
as Therapeutic Cloning.
In the interest of clarifying the
commonly used terms and phrases
Pennsylvanians for Human Life offers
the following dictionary with a
basic definition of each term. We
also offer a highlighted listing
of terms and phrases which have
been misused in these debates along
with a clarification.
PHL offers this dictionary with
the understanding that it is incomplete
and possibly incorrect and encourage
readers to offer additions and corrections.
These are basic definitions of
terms commonly used in biology and
medicine with particular focus on
those related to pro-life issues.
In most cases (e.g. Cell) the definition
is accurate but simplified to reduce
detail. For some more controversial
terms (e.g. Life) the definition
is taken verbatim from Taber’s
Cyclopedic Medical Dictionary
| Term
|
Definition |
| Life |
Biologically the
life of a system begins at the
moment of conception and ends
at death |
| Death |
Permanent cessation of all
vital functions including those
of the heart, lungs, and brain. |
| Cell |
A contained mass of protoplasm
containing a nucleus |
| Mitosis |
The biological growth process
in which a cell divides and
becomes two cells |
| Stem cell |
This term is often used ambiguously.
Successful applications of Adult
Stem Cells are often described
simply as Stem Cells. Opposition
to the use of Embryonic Stem
Cells is often described as
opposition to Stem Cell Research. |
| Stem cell-Totipotent |
A cell which can give rise
to all other types of cells.
A zygote is such a cell |
| Stem cell-Pluripotent |
A cell which can give rise
to most other types of cells.
An embryo contains a high percentage
of pluripotent cells. |
| Stem cell-Multipotent |
A cell which can give rise
to many other types of cells |
| Stem cell-Embryonic |
A pluripotent cell obtained
from a disassembled (killed)
embryo. The opposition to the
use of Embryonic Stem Cells
is based on the need to kill
a live human embryo to obtain
these cells. |
| Stem cell-Adult |
A multipotent cell from a
still functioning organ. Adult
Stem Cells can be obtained from
bone marrow, umbilical cord
blood, and other organs without
harm. Research using ASCs is
supported by Pro-Life groups. |
| Stem
cell research (SCR) |
A legitimate and potentially
highly valuable area of medical
research. An understanding of
the function and the malfunction
of stem cells is and will be
producing very promising advances
in medicine. |
| Embryonic stem cell
research (ESCR) |
An ethically unacceptable
form of SCR because it involves
the killing of living human
beings at the embryo stage. |
| Somatic cell |
A cell that has reached its
final differentiated state.
Most cells in the human body
are Somatic Cells |
| Germ cell |
A sperm or egg. They usually
contain a single set of chromosomes |
| Gametes |
A mature sperm or egg |
| Zygote |
The cell produced by the merger
of two gametes |
| Embryo |
The young of any organism
in the early stage of development.
|
| Fetus |
The young of any organism
in the latter stage of development.
|
| Neonate |
Neonate A newborn infant |
| Clone |
A copy of another organism.
A human clone is a live human
being, initially at the Zygote
stage and later at the Embryo
stage. |
| Somatic Cell Nuclear
Transfer (SCNT) |
A technical
process of creating a clone
in a laboratory. It uses technology
similar to In-Vitro Fertilization.
This was the technology used
to create Dolly, the sheep.
The use of such a technology
to create humans is ethically
highly questionable at best.
When this technology is used
to create a human zygote and
grow it to the embryo stage
the result is a live human
being by all scientific definitions. |
| Reproductive
cloning |
This deliberately
misrepresenting phrase applies,
not to the cloning process (see
SCNT), but to the use of a cloned
embryo to produce a live cloned
baby |
| Therapeutic
cloning |
This deliberately
misrepresenting phrase applies,
not to the cloning process (see
SCNT), but to the use of a cloned
embryo to produce embryonic
stem cells. |
| Cloning |
This term
has been deliberately misrepresented
to imply Therapeutic Cloning.
A Clone exists when it is created,
not when or how it is ultimately
used. |
| Therapeutic |
A proper
term for a healing treatment
or agent. Its misuse in conjunction
with Cloning above is intended
to imply that the process will
provide healing. It will certainly
not heal the embryo being treated
and the use of the term for
a highly speculative, distant
future treatment is highly unusual
and grossly misleading. |
| Fertilization/ Conception |
The successful merger of male
and female gametes resulting
in a zygote |
| In Vitro Fertilization
(IVF) |
A technical process of creating
a zygote in a laboratory Petri
dish using eggs and sperm. The
Zygote is grown for a few days
into an Embryo which can then
be implanted in a woman’s
uterus. The first human to be
so conceived was Louise Brown,
a Scottish girl, born in 1978. |
| Surplus
embryos |
The IVF process
usually involves removing multiple
(8 to 12) eggs from a woman,
fertilizing most of them, and
implanting a few (2 to 5) in
a woman’s uterus. The
remaining embryos are considered
surplus and are frozen for future
use. The Embryonic Stem Cell
Research controversy concerns
the use of these embryos. |
| Implantation |
The process of the embryo
implanting itself or being implanted
in a uterus. |
| Pregnancy |
The condition of having a
developing human in the body |
| Embryology |
The science that deals with
the origin and development of
an organism through the embryo
stage |
| Fetology |
The science that deals with
the development of an organism
through the later or fetal stage |
| PGD- Preimplantation
Genetic Diagnosis |
A process of diagnosing an
in vitro embryo for genetic
defects. Non-defective embryos
are selected for implantation.
Defective embryos are discarded. |
| Abortion |
The deliberate killing of
a pre-born human being. |
| Alternate
terms for the word abortion |
|
| |
Because
both the term Abortion as
well as the very concept of
Abortion are controversial
the supporters of abortion
use alternate terms. These
alternate terms fall into
two areas; One- screening
terms, often technical, which
blur the issue, and Two- diverting
concepts which remove the
issue to more pleasant matters. |
| Termination of pregnancy |
Screen |
| Choice |
Diversion |
| D&E- Dilation
and evacuation |
Screen term for partial birth
abortion |
| Therapeutic abortion |
Screen |
| Legal right to privacy |
Diversion |
| Reproductive rights |
Diversion |
| Roe v Wade |
The January 22nd, 1973 Supreme
Court decision that made abortion
legal in the US |
| Doe v Bolton |
The Supreme Court decision,
also on January 22nd, 1973,
that made abortion available
if the mother’s health
was endangered |
| Partial birth abortion |
An abortion procedure that
delivers a baby feet first from
the mother’s womb except
for its head, then kills the
baby, before completing the
delivery of the head. |
| Fetal research |
Research conducted on developing
humans beyond the embryo stage.
This research is not currently
being conducted in the US but
laws in New Jersey make such
research legal. |
| Placenta |
A body of tissue which attaches
to the wall of the uterus establishing
an interface between the mother’s
blood stream and the baby’s
blood stream |
| Fallopian tube |
A narrow tube between an ovary
and the uterus through which
the female egg passes. Conception
usually occurs in the fallopian
tube near the ovary. |
| Umbilical cord |
A cable-like structure which
connects the preborn child to
the placenta. It is a part of
the baby’s blood stream
carrying oxygen and nutrients,extracted
from the mother’s blood
stream to the baby and returning
CO2 and other wastes back to
the placenta and the mother’s
blood stream. |
| Umbilical cord blood |
Blood from the baby’s
blood stream. A small amount
of such blood remains in the
umbilical cord after birth and
that blood is relatively rich
in early stage stem cells. |
| Amniotic fluid |
The watery fluid within the
uterus in which the preborn
floats during pregnancy. |
| Alternative definitions
for the beginning of human life |
While the
science of embryology has clearly
and unanimously established
(for almost 200 years) that
all mammalian life begins at
conception some continue to
argue for other beginning points.
Typically there is a semi-hidden
purpose, e.g. ESCR, for arguing
such a position. |
| Viability |
The time after conception
when the pre-born human could
live outside of a mother’s
womb. This point is currently
about 20 weeks and decreasing. |
| Twinning |
The time after conception
(about 5 days) when the separation
of the embryo into two (or more)
identical twins can no longer
occur. |
| Primitive streak |
The time after conception
(about 7 days) when a spinal
column and nerves begin to appear.
|
| Implantation |
The time after conception
(about 7 days) that the embryo
implants itself in the mother’s
uterus. |
| Birth |
The time when the baby can
become a citizen. |
| Up to one year after
birth |
A concept by Peter Singer
and others that the creature?
becomes self aware. |
| Pre-embryo |
A term coined by Clifford
Grobstein specifically to justify
ESCR |
| Human non-persons |
A concept
that while the pre-born are
human beings they are not persons
because they are missing some
component of personhood, such
as self awareness. Taken seriously
this could be a catastrophically
expansive and dangerous term. |
| Planned
Parenthood |
An organization founded by
Margaret Sanger which promotes
contraception and is a large
and growing supplier of abortion
services |
| Quality of life |
A phrase covering a vague
range of characteristics of
personal living. The phrase
is usually applied as a view
of someone else’s life
|
| Health of the mother |
A key term in the Doe v Bolton
decision which allows a doctor,
including an abortionist, to
accept a woman’s claim
of adverse health affects, to
justify an abortion |
| Persistent vegetative
state |
A term for a vaguely defined
neurological condition from
which a person is not expected
to recover. |
| Consensus of scientists/
doctors/ etc. |
A phrase for a situation where
a number of people, not necessarily
the majority, agree on a conclusion.
The term is often misused to
stifle debate. As applied to
science the term “consensus”
is almost an oxymoron since
science depends on debate among
conflicting views. |
| Death with dignity |
A politically correct term
for either Euthanasia or Assisted
Suicide. It could be characterized
as “Death for the inconvenient”. |
| Euthanasia |
An act or omission, which
of itself or by intention causes
a person’s death under
the pretense of relieving suffering.
It was formerly called “mercy
killing”. Euthanasia could
be characterized as “Murder
with good intentions”. |
| Assisted suicide |
Providing the physical means
or assistance by which a person
commits suicide. It could be
characterized as “Murder
with the victim’s permission”. |
