Appendix E. 
215 
vague or as violating the right to privacy to make reproductive 
decisions. Such a challenge was successful in a federal district court 
case, Lifchez v. Hartiaan .^^ which held that a ban on research on 
conceptuses was unconstitutional because it was too vague in that it 
failed to define the terms "experimentation" and "therapeutic."®^ The 
court pointed out that there are multiple meanings of the term 
"experimentation."®^ It could mean pure research, with no direct 
benefit to the subject. It could mean a procedure that is not 
sufficiently tested so that the outcome is predictable, or a procedure 
that departs from present-day practice. It could mean a procedure 
performed by a practitioner or clinic for the first time. Or it could 
mean routine treatment on a new patient. Since the statute did not 
define the term, it was unconstitutionally vague. It violated 
researchers' and clinicians' due process rights under the fifth 
amendment since it forced them to guess whether their conduct was 
unlav\rful.®® 
A similar result was reached by a federal appellate court 
assessing the constitutionality of a Louisiana law prohibiting 
nontherapeutic experimentation on fetuses in Margaret S. v. 
Edwards .®^ The appeals court declared the law unconstitutional 
because the term "experimentation" was so vague it did not give 
researchers adequate notice about what type of conduct was 
banned.®® The court said that the term "experimentation" was 
impermissibly vague®® since physicians do not and cannot 
distinguish clearly between medical experimentation and medical 
735 F. Supp. 1361 (N.D. lU. 1990). 
Idi at 1364. The court also held that the statute violated couples’ right to 
privacy to make reproductive decisions to undertake preimplantation genetic 
screening, or procreate with a donated embryo. Id. at 1377. With embryo 
stem cell research, the progenitors’ reproductive freedom is not an issue, 
however. 
^ l± at 1364-65. 
^ l± at 1364. 
^ Margaret S. v. Edwards . 794 F.2d 994 (5th Cir. 1986). 
Id. at 999. 
Id. 
PRE -PUBLICATION VERSION 
