Application Of Ethical Theories : Emryo Research, Cloning & Designer Babies Flashcards
What is the purpose of embryo research?
> To understand causes of infertility and repeating miscarriages and develop effective treatments.
To develop more effective contraception
To understand more about preventing genetic conditions
To treat serious and incurable diseases , ie Parkinson’s disease. (looked at through cloning).
What is Stem cell cloning?
The creation of an embryonic clone of the patient. The stem cells are harvested from the clone for treatment of the patients condition.
What are designer babies?
> These are created through IVF.
They result from the editing of DNA cells or embryos.
Selection of sex on medical grounds and the creation of saviour siblings is lawful in the UK.
- Sex selection for other reasons is rejected on social grounds.
Some would like to see this extended when scientifically possible to include selection for traits such as intelligence and appearance.
What do the Primary Precepts say about Embryo research, cloning and designer babies?
Creation of the embryo through IVF breaches three primary precepts:
1. Worship of God
- Those responsible for the IVF process are ‘playing God’
- God alone is the creator of life , which is essentially his gift.
2. Reproduction
- Natural moral law states that it is wrong to separate the sexual act from the procreative act. Here the two are disassociated : the pro creative purpose is fulfilled without the unitive.
3. Living in an Ordered society:
- Separating the unitive from the procreative may pose a threat to marriage and family harmony, which together form the basis of a harmonious society.
Give a Key quote for Embryo research, cloning and designer babies in Natural Moral Law.
“The act which brings the child into existence is no longer an act by which two persons give themselves to one another but one that entrusts the life and identity of the embryo into the power of doctors and biologists and established the domination of technology over the origin and destiny of the human person”
What do we mean by destruction of embryos?
> At 14 days the latest, the embryos that are being used for research must be destroyed.
What does Natural Moral Law say about the destruction of embryos?
> It breaches the first precept, which is the preservation of innocent life.
It breaches of the corresponding secondary precept, which is reinforced by the 6th or 5th commandment. Do not murder.
In natural moral law, both the intention and gathering action must be good.
The intention of most uses of embryo is good but the action is wrong for other reasons.
What does Natural Moral Law say about the creation of designer babies for social reasons?
This goes against two primary precepts:
- Breaches worship of God, as God is taken out of the equation.
- Breaches living in an ordered society as:
- It assesses value in terms of usefulness of society and devalues the weak.
- it leads to discrimination based on wealth
- may lead to a race of super humans
What is a Key quotation in NML for the creation of designer babies for social reasons?
‘Such manipulations are contrary to the personal dignity of the human being and his integrity and identity, which are unique and unrepeatable’
What does Situation ethics say about the status of the embryo in embryo research, cloning and designer babies?
> For Fletcher, personhood was what conferred rights
-Personhood entailed possessing certain characteristics, e.g. self awareness, the capacity to communicate.
The embryo is only a potential person since it does not possess those characteristics.
Therefore, embryo research, cloning and designer babies do not pose moral concerns.
What does Situation ethics say about the Techniques uses in Embryo research, cloning and designer babies?
> Fletcher supported all techniques, providing proper controls were in place.
He viewed humans as in control of their own reproduction
He rejected the traditional belief that humanity is created in Gods image.
For him, what the agapeic calculus showed to be the most loving action in any situation was the right thing to do.
Whatever affirmed love in the situation and fulfilled the criteria of agapeic calculus was what mattered.
He saw the intention in many situations in many of these techniques as being good.
He acknowledged that there was a risk in genetic engineering (political rather than ethical).
What is a Key quotation for Fletchers beliefs on Embryo research, cloning and designer babies?
“ Man is a maker and a selector and a designer, and the more rationally contrived and deliberate anything is, the more human it is”
What was a quote by Fletcher in Situation ethics, in support of Embryo research, cloning and designer babies?
“Controls of a child’s sex by cloning, to avoid any one of 50 sex linked genetic diseases, or to meet a family’s survival need, might be justifiable… Needs are the moral stabilisers, not rights… if human rights conflict with human needs, let needs prevail”
What does Virtue ethics say about the Status of the embryo?
> It is impossible to know what Aristotle would have thought but modern virtue ethicists such as Rosalind Hursthouse tend to think of it as irrelevant to the debate.
This is because she claims we cannot know at what stage a personhood occurs.
What does Situation Ethics say about the Destruction of Embryos?
> The key virtue to be considered is compassion.
It would seem likely that a compassionate person would focus on those lives who are being ruined by infertility, by illnesses such as Parkinson’s or life threatening genetic disorders.
