Opposition to embryonic stem (ES) cell research in the United States has focused on the status of the embryo and used discursive strategies based on the rhetorical figure of the “public fetus” created in abortion debates. The public fetus is an example of biorhetoric, and the biorhetorical component of it is intensified because political and scientific-technical developments render the extension of it to the ES cell debate problematic. This essay examines the development of debates about life, conception and the status of the fetus/embryo in Congressional hearings. Arguments from both sides focus on definitions of “the embryo,” and ultimately transform the biorhetorical appeal into a form of scientism.
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