4 Embryonic Stem Cell Research Flashcards
What is a embryo like up to 14 days old?
It has no consciousness and no nervous system, the primitive streak doesn’t form until 14 days.
What is Singer’s argument about personhood?
That up to 14 days the embryo could split into two or more genetically identical embryos, therefore since we can’t be sure how many individuals we’re looking at, there is no personal presence.
What is the British Humanist Association’s argument about stem cell research?
Before 14 days “There is no brain, no self-awareness, no way of feeling pain or emotion, so an early stage embryo cannot suffer”.
What does Singer say about sperm and eggs?
An embryo requires human action for its potential to be realised, therefore this is similar to sperm and eggs. They have the potential to become human with human intervention but are discarded with no moral consequence.
What does Galations 1:15 say?
“God, who set me apart from my mother’s womb”
What does Doeflinger think about stem cell research?
That the way we treat imperfect embryos reflects the way we treat imperfect humans, ie. saying I can test on an embryo because this is wrong with it suggests that type of disease has less worth/dignity after birth.
What do the Comittee of Catholic Bishops on Bioethical issues think?
Differentiation of some cells starts before 14 days
What do some Christians believe about conception?
That life begins at conception so the embryo has full human rights, and believe in the sanctity of life.
What can embryonic experimentation benefit?
Alzheimer’s disease, Huntington’s disease, diabetes, Parkinson’s disease (degenerative diseases)
What did Pope John Paul II call embyronic stem cell research?
“An attack on innocent life”
What does Doeflinger think similar to Kant?
That it’s wrong to treat humans as means to an end - but again requires the assumption that embryos are human.
What is a Utilitarian view on embryonic stem cell research?
Applying the greatest good for the greatest no. principle, it is moral as it could develop treatments which help many, and the embryo is not an autonomous agent therefore is not taken into account.
