ABSTRACT
Sex is not the answer to everything, though young men think it is, but it may be the answer to the intractable debate over the ethics of human embryonic stem cell (HESC) research. The European Group on Ethics, which advises the European Parliament, is one of the few to have highlighted the women's rights issues that arise here. Most sources agree that the most proximate use of HESC therapy would be for Parkinson's disease. On 22 January 2001, the United Kingdom became the first country, certainly in Europe, to approve HESC research, albeit with what the government described as "adequate safeguards." Portugal, where abortion is illegal except in cases of rape or serious medical reasons, and banned regardless after the twelfth week, has no legislation but no research. Germany also provides a constitutional right to freedom of research at the individual and institutional levels and a constitutional duty for the state to protect the life and health of its citizens.
