Is Nancy Reagan still pro-life?

Great Debates
1

According to several citations on the web, she said at some point “I do not believe in abortion at will. I do not believe that if a woman just wants to have an abortion she should… I do believe if you have an abortion you are committing murder.”
(http://en.thinkexist.com/quotes/nancy_reagan/)

In the last years she has become an advocate for stem-cell research, as I’m sure most if not all of you have heard.

Has she elaborated on what sources she advocates for the stem cells? I assume she’s aware they come from embryos. Perhaps is she simply advocating the study of the stem cell lines that Bush has already approved use of? Or has she changed her mind about abortion=murder, and supports the harvesting of embryos from abortions and IVF clinics?

2

She may be in the middle ground, where I am, which I like to think of as the “reality position.” That’s the tack which says “Well, I do believe abortion is murder, but the reality is that it’s happening. Embryos are also being abandoned at fertility clinics and are currently being dumped down sinks. It’s awful, and I wish it would end, but the chances of that legitimately happening are slim and none and slim’s on the train outta town. So we may as well try to ameliorate all of that waste by at least doing research which could prevent a lot more suffering in this world.”

3

Do you want this in GQ?

4

Revtim:
The stem cells that were used were (usually) from embryos (embryi?) that people had banked and that were just going to be flushed. As best I can recall anyway. While she is pretty down with stem cell research, I don’t think that being so necessarily interferes with a belief that abortion is murder.

5

The word “still” implies she was always strongly anti-abortion before. I don’t believe that’s the case.

The Reagans’ (both Ronald and Nancy) record on abortion is mixed, at best. Publicly, Ronald was pro-life, but as governor of California, he liberalized abortion laws long before Roe vs. Wade, and as president, to have applied much of a litmus test for judges (O’Connor and Kennedy sure haven’t been anti-abortion votes).

Nancy was invariably more concerned with how any issue helped or hurt Ronald’s image, than with the merits of the cause, and she regularly blasted pro-lifers for “making Ronnie look bad.”

In short, even if Nancy were now pro-abortion, I’m not sure that represents as much of a radical change in her thinking as Revtim suggests.

6

Just FTR, stem cell research is not the same as fetal stem cell research. It is perfectly possible to support research on stem cells, without requiring that these be harvested from aborted fetuses.

7

Blastocysts are fetuses now? Did I miss the memo or are you only talking about stem cells supposedly harvested from the ever-so commonplace third trimester abortions or something?

8

I said nothing about blastocysts, so don’t change the subject.

Stem cells do not have to be harvested from aborted fetuses. They can be obtained from adult bone marrow, umbilical cords, skin, bones or just about any type of tissue. Check out the following, if you dare:
[ul]
[li]Dale Woodbury, Darwin Prockop, et al, “Adult Rat and Human Bone Marrow Stromal Cells Differentiate Into Neurons,” Journal of Neuroscience Research, July 31, 2000, 61: 364-370[/li][li]Gene Kopen, D. Prockop, and D. Phinney, “Marrow Stromal Cells Migrate Throughout Forebrain and Cerebellum, and they Differentiate into Astrocytes After Injection Into Neonatal Mouse Brains,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, September 14, 1999.[/li][li]“Scientists Have Coaxed New Life Out of Dead Brains,” Associated Press, November 6, 2000.[/li][li]Maggie Fox, “Limitless Source of Repair Cells Come from Fat,” Reuters, February 27, 2001.[/li][li]Karla Harby, “Cord Blood May Replace Fetal Cells in Brain Research,” MEDLINE (Reuters), February 20, 2001.[/li][li]“Umbilical Cords May Provide Cells for Repairing Brains After Strokes,” AP, February 18, 2001.[/li][li]K. Tsubota, et al, “Treatment of Severe Ocular Disorders With Corneal Epithelial Stem-Cell Transplantation,” New England Journal of Medicine, June 3, 1999.[/li][/ul]

So when prochoicers insist that we must abort unborn babies in order to obtain stem cells… well, they’re either lying or seriously misinformed.

9

JThunder, I had though that it was still unknown whether the adult harvested stem cells were as useful as fetal. I have no cite, but likely read about it in ‘New Scientist’.

10

You think correctly.

From here.

So, in conclusion, adult stem cell therapy is promising, but as of May 2004, can’t do things we’ve been able to do for a while with embryonic stem cells (e.g., regenerate nerve tissue). Has this hijack landed yet?

11

That may or may not be true, but it’s irrelevant to the topic at hand. The question was whether one could support stem cell research without supproting fetal stem cell research.

Clearly, it is possible to do so, since not all stem cells come from fetuses. Protestations such as “But fetal stem cells are more useful!” do nothing to disprove this fact.

12

There’s some evidence that adult stem cells might be more useful than embryonic ones. The science on all of this is still very new.

I think time will tell. But there are moral implications to using embryos for stem cells. There’s no getting around it.

As to the topic at hand, Nancy Reagan was never a policymaker, and kept her opinions to herself so as not to politically damage her husband. But there’s considerable evidence that she was either never politically pro-life, or never enthusiastically so.

13

I vaguely recall that Nancy has, post-Reagan Admin, been vocally somewhat more lenient RE abortion & in her advocacy for stem cell research has called for President Bush to repeal his limitations. Also, while I am loathe to use her as a source, Kitty Kelly claimed Nancy assited their daughter Patti in obtaining an abortion, tho both have denied that (even when Patti seemed dedicated to taking any opportunity to embarrass them).

14

The question at hand is not about anyone in particular, but specifically Nancy Reagan.

Thank you for bringing up the point that there can be stem cell research without embryos. Do you have any idea if Nancy is aware of the difference, and supports one and/or the other?

15

I think it would be safe to assume so, if she was taking a public position on it. I’ve known about it for years (I am very much in favor of rearch using umbilical cord stem cells, rather than ones from embryos) and until this thread I thought it was common knowledge that there are muliple sources for stem cells. I’d like to think she’s researched something she’s come out in favor of at least as much as I have, anyway.