Lois Uttley, MPP and Ronora Pawelko, JD. Mergerwatch Project, Family Planning Advocates of NYS, 17 Elk Street, Albany, NY 12207, 518-436-8408, ext. 211, lois@mergerwatch.org

Anti-choice organizations have taken their battle against women's reproductive rights well beyond opposition to abortion in recent years. Determined to protect all of what they call "pre-born life," these groups are now advocating sweeping legal protections not only for the fetus, but also for the embryo and the pre-embryo stages of blastocyst and zygote. These groups have opposed emergency contraception out of the belief (scientifically unproven) that EC might cause the destruction of a fertilized egg or zygote. They also consider embryonic stem cell research, therapeutic cloning, assisted reproductive techniques, pre-implantation genetic screening and the develpment of new vaccines (grown on culture mediums derived from fetal cells) to be "pro-life issues." They argue that embryos should not be used for reearch purposes, even when the resulting treatments could save lives. This paper will examine emerging state and federal policies proposing to grant legal protections for embryos. It will review, as well, the influsion into public policies of fundamentalist religious beliefs about when life begins. Among the topics to be explored are: the adoption of federal scientific research policy in 2002 requiring that embryos be treated as subjects whose welfare must be considered; state and federal policies on therapeutic cloning; and state laws defining life as beginning at conception. The paper will articulate the shared implications of these policy trends for reproductive health services and biogenetic research.

Learning Objectives:

• Learn to recognize the implications for reproductive rights of proposed public policies defining when life begins or granting personhood status to the embryo
• Learn to identify and articulate the implications for reproductive health policy in the public debate over cloning and embryonic stem cell research.
• Apply this knowledge to evaluating and assessing proposed state, federal and international policies that would define when life begins or grant personhood to the embryo or pre-embryo

Keywords: Bioethics, Reproductive Health

Related Web page: www.mergerwatch.org

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.