Questions to consider:
When does the human being acquire (Full or partial) moral status?
Does the moral status of an embryo created in vitro (by either IVF or SCNT) different from an in vivo fertilization made one?
What are the evidences supporting your argument/ viewpoint
Use scientific facts but not as the only source of evidentiary
support. It should be a mixture of science and non science moral ideas
such as religions, philosophies, and ethics.
Essay
on the Moral Status of the Human Embryo
The moral
status of the human embryo still persists to be one of the hottest debates in
the ethics of the medical field. With the high progress of science and the
various discoveries of the therapeutic potential of stem cells in regenerative
comes the question of the moral status of the human embryo. This issue is still strongly debated when it
comes to the ethics of embryo research, stem cell research, cloning, assisted
reproduction, genetic engineering, post-coital contraception and
preimplantation diagnosis. Some believe that the human embryo have the same
moral status as that of the adult human being,
some other consider it just like animals or the status of other live
beings and some others believe that it has no moral status at all. In order to
fully understand this debate, this essay will define the nature of the embryo,
examine the notion of moral status and to present the arguments regarding the
issue of the moral status of human embryo.
What is an
embryo? An embryo can be defined as an organism in its early stage of
developments, specifically the stage before it reach a distinct and recognizable
form. According to George and Gomez-Lobo (2005)”a human embryo is a whole
living member of the species Homo sapiens in the earliest stage of his or her
natural development.” It is able to develop its integral organic functioning
and continue to the next developmental stages (i.e. fetal stage) unless it is
deprived of a suitable environment. If all goes well and the development is not
interfered, the human embryo would then develop into a full human entity.
In defining
moral status, Warren (2000) says that to have a moral status is to be morally
considerable or to have a certain moral standing. It is to be a being that
moral agents have moral obligations to. If a certain being has a moral status
then people cannot treat it in ways that just please them rather it is
subjected to moral status that will restrict people to just simply subject it
into anything. On the other hand if a being has no moral status then people can
acts toward it any way as they please.
Juhant and Zalec (2011) asserted that there are three main
bioethical theories in approaching the topic of the moral status of human
embryo. The first group of theories are composed of academics and intellectuals
who claim that human embryo does not have a moral status. In this case, they
believe that human embryo does not have a human dignity yet because it is not a
person at all. In this type of viewpoint, the right to life and the right not
to be harmed cannot be applied. The second position regarding the moral status
of the human embryo are made up of people whose claim lies on the belief that
human embryo has a moral status since the beginning of its conception. People
who believe in this claim regard human embryo as a full person that has a right
to life and a right not to be harmed. The last position regarding this topic is
composed of people who believe that the human embryo gradually acquires a moral
status. In this belief, a human embryo is considered to acquire a moral status
in its 14th day where the central nerve system that includes
consciousness and the recognition of the pain already develops. Most of the EU
countries consider the 10th or the 22nd week of gestation
as the moment where the moral status of the embryo is acquired.
Those that
believe that embryo has a full human moral status argue that embryo as a first
sign of life deserves to be respected just as much as the fully developed
human. People who believe this stand will not allow any research undertaking
that intended to use embryo in their experiments. On the other hand, people who
believe that the embryo has a special kind of moral status as the earliest form
of human life but not the same as the fully developed human would allow
research that needs human embryo only under some conditions. They limit the
researches done on human embryo on the first 14 days of cell division. They
also restricted the creation of human embryo just to carry out the researches.
Lastly, those that believe that human embryos do not have moral status consider
that it is morally acceptable to create and use the human embryo as much as any
other human tissue just for the purpose of research.
Works
Cited:
George, R.P. & Gomez-Lobo A (2005). The Moral Status of the Human Embryo. Perspectives in Biology and
Medicine. 48 (2) 201-210.
Juhant, J. & Zalec, B. (2011). Humanity After Selfish Prometheus: Chances of Dialogue nad Ethics In a
technicized World. Berlin: Lit Verlag Dr. W. Hopf
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