Menstruation Should Be Illegal

One of the things that really gets me about people who refuse to allow federal funding for stem cell research is how inane their arguments really are, and how they’re blocking one of the most promising medical research avenues available today.

Arguments usually go something like this: “research using human embryos [is] ‘gravely immoral,’ because removing cells kills an unborn child.” Very frequently they say that the embryos have “potential” for human life.

Remember, this “unborn child” is a zygote, at this point called a blastocyst. It has no nerves, no blood vessels, no bones, no skin. It doesn’t even have a placenta. It can’t feel pain, move, or survive on its own. It’s as sentient as the bacteria on your keyboard.

In order for an externally fertilized embryo to turn into an actual baby (as in, one with a brain and a heart that’s capable of feeling anything or doing anything), it needs to be implanted in the uterine wall and actually carry to term, something which only has a 20-30% chance of happening, even given that 5 embryos may be implanted, and those were only the ones judged “best” (the others are destroyed). In short, for every externally fertilized embryo that does get turned into a baby, about nine don’t (that’s being conservative, it’s probably higher).

Well, you know what, each egg has potential for life, all it needs to do is be penetrated by a sperm, implant in the uterine wall, not spontaneously abort or miscarry (which there’s a 50% chance of). The odds of any one egg coming to term, as long as the ovulating women has sex at the right time, are about as good as those with IV Fertilization (provided, of course, that there are no problems of the kind that lead to IV Fertilization being necessary).

Since there’s just as much “potential” for a single egg to come to term as an externally-fertilized embryo, logically we should ban menstruation as immoral. Women of the earth, lend me your eggs, I mean, ears! Every time you menstruate, you murder a potential child! You must stop this indiscriminant killing! Each egg is precious, it carries with it the potential to make a human, for all it needs is sperm! Indeed, every sperm is sacred, and male masturbation kills thousands of potential children, and should thusly be outlawed!



I can find no logically consistent way to be against stem-cell research and not against menstruation or male masturbation. In all three cases, the only thing that’s destroyed is a lump of cells: unconscious, unfeeling cells incapable of living on their own. Eggs, sperm, and blastocysts can eventually turn into a human, but the odds are low and special circumstances must be met.

Embryonic stem cells are a very promising area of research, and blocking that research is almost certainly killing more people than will ever be born of the blastocysts destroyed, and every day more eggs and sperm that could become children are lost. Which of those three things is the greatest tragedy? I know my answer, what’s yours?