Use of eggs from aborted foetuses

Foetal donors will help childless couples who cannot obtain eggs (some women have to wait up to three years) and avoid the need for live egg donors to undergo unpleasant and risky procedures. The experimental development work will further knowledge of reproductive process and contraception, promote advances in infertility treatment and increase knowledge about congenital disease, detection of abnormalities in embryos and and the causes of miscarriage.

It is morally wrong to create life from women who never lived. Children born from foetal eggs could suffer psychological damage because they do not know their genetic identity; they might also have difficulty establishing whether or not there is a genetic relationship between themselves and a person they might wish to marry. Further, foetal eggs from naturally aborted foetuses may contain genetic abnormalities and produce children with congenital disorders. The use of foetal eggs could also encourage women to have abortions to provide foetal tissue, even on a commercial basis, perhaps in the same way as some surrogate mothers conceive and give birth to children for others now.