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Stem Cells from the Baby Benefit Mother Study Finds

BOSTON, July 9, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Organizations that support abortion are only too willing to tell their clients that the unborn child is a kind of parasite, a foreign being that contributes nothing to a woman's health and which will be an intolerable burden after birth. Now, however, science is disproving the polemics again. Researchers at Tufts new England Medical Center have found that the child in the womb is a possible source of stem cells for the mother. There is evidence that shows stem cells move from the child through the umbilical cord and into the mother to help repair damaged tissue.

A report was published in the July 7th edition of the Journal of the American Medical Association saying that scientists have discovered evidence of fetal stem cells in the liver, spleen and thyroid of women who had been pregnant. The senior author of the paper said that the cells may have therapeutic potential if they can be determined to be stem cells from the fetus. The abstract of the report says that this is not the first time fetal stem cells have been found in the system of pregnant women. "Many studies have confirmed the residual presence of fetal cells in maternal blood and tissues following pregnancy."

Editorial comment in the AMA Journal said that the possibility of stem cells being found to move between child and mother during pregnancy could affect the debate over embryo research. "The time may soon come when the prenatal child heals the mother and perhaps in the far distant future becomes the ultimate health insurance for the whole family." Such a possibility is not that far away with more attention being paid to the banking and use of umbilical cord blood. Umbilical blood is a rich source of stem cells that can be matched both to family members and genetically similar strangers.

Many scientists and lobbying organizations have been laying heavy pressure on the Bush administration to lift the funding restrictions on the use of embryos in research.

To read an abstract of the paper (registration may be required):
http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/292/1/75

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