Fetal farming or fetal organ harvesting is the intentional creation and use of human fetal tissues or organs for scientific or medical purposes. It is an extremely controversial practice that has drawn support from some liberal bioethicists, but is widely condemned by opponents of legal abortion. Conservatives including Robert George and Wesley J. Smith have argued that embryonic stem cell research will inevitably lead to fetal farming. Some supporters of embryonic stem cell have rejected this comparison. Other liberal bioethicists and medical experts, including Jacob M. Appel and Sir Richard Gardner, have welcomed the possibility of using fetuses as a way to increase the supply of organs available for transplantation. The farming of fetuses was banned in the United States by the "Fetus Farming Prohibition Act of 2006" sponsored by Senators Rick Santorum, Sam Brownback, Richard Burr and Jeff Sessions, and signed by President George W. Bush. However, no fetal farming was occurring in the United States at that time.
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