The question of embryohood
Students of bioethics sometimes imagine that the philosophical, moral and legal status of the human embryo is reducible to the single question: 'Is the human embryo a person?'...
Students of bioethics sometimes imagine that the philosophical, moral and legal status of the human embryo is reducible to the single question: 'Is the human embryo a person?'...
In the early 1980s many people both inside and outside Parliament were seeking to prohibit experimentation on human embryos. In response, the government convened a committee of enquiry, aiming by that means to circumvent the possibility of a ban. The Warnock Report duly concluded that 'the embryo of the human species should be afforded some protection in law'. The committee was in favour of research involving the destruction of human embryos but...
I think the title of Progress Educational Trust's forthcoming conference ('Is the embryo sacrosanct? Multi-faith perspectives.' - see Recommends for details) has been very well chosen. It connects with other kinds of questions - legal, scientific, theological - but in itself it is a specifically moral or ethical question. 'Is the human embryo...
BioNews, published by the Progress Educational Trust (PET), provides news and comment on genetics, assisted conception, embryo/stem cell research and related areas.