T2 L4 The Moral Status of the Embryo

Question 1

What does ontological mean?

Answer 1

It relates to the branch of metaphysics dealing with the nature of being.

NOTE: Thus, the question “What is the moral difference between me and an apple?” is an ontological question, as it examines the nature (fundamental features, in this case moral features) of the two entities

Question 2

Why is the moral status of the embryo considered?

Answer 2

Unresolved moral debates over the significance and status of human embryos

Views on this issue link in to views on other ethically contentious issues e.g. abortion, cloning, stem cell research

These debates are political as well as personal, national as well and individual.

Because this area of science and medicine is rapidly expanding there are new issues emerging all the time, e.g. Mitochondrial transplant, research, IVF…

Question 3

Give examples of the “right” questions to ask when considering the moral status of the embryo

Answer 3

When does life begin?

When does life become morally significant?

What makes a life morally significant?

Question 4

Give a short description of the history of legislation surrounding human embryos

Answer 4

Report of the committee of Enquiry in to Human Fertilisation and Embryology 1984

Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990

Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority 1991

House of Commons Science and Technology Committee Human Reproductive Technologies and the Law, 2004-5

Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008 came into force October 2009

The Human Fertilisation and Embryology (Mitochondrial Donation) Regulations 2015

Question 5

What is conscientious objection to participation in treatment? (Abortion Act, 1967, Section 4)

Answer 5

The physician can choose to refuse to take part in a procedure that involves abortion, if they feel it goes against their moral beliefs.

NOTE: Although you are allowed to object you cannot abandon your patients, and must point them towards the relevant services. You need to be aware of the law so that you can advise your patients appropriately. Also some of your colleagues will not share your view and so you have to consider how you will relate with them.

Question 6

What is conscientious objection to participation in treatment? (Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990, Section 38)

Answer 6

38 Conscientious objection.

(1) No person who has a conscientious objection to participating in any activity governed by this Act shall be under any duty, however arising, to do so.
(2) In any legal proceedings the burden of proof of conscientious objection shall rest on the person claiming to rely on it.
(3) In any proceedings before a court in Scotland, a statement on oath by any person to the effect that he has a conscientious objection to participating in a particular activity governed by this Act shall be sufficient evidence of that fact for the purpose of discharging the burden of proof imposed by subsection (2) above.”

Question 7

What is moral status?

Answer 7

“An entity has moral status if and only if it or its interests morally matter to some degree for the entity’s own sake.”

1) Utilitarian: Having moral status means that one’s interests (extent, duration of pleasures/pains etc) must be factored into the utility calculations of other people/society as a whole.
2) Non-Utilitarian: Having moral status means that there are reasons, independent of the consequences, for treating an entity with respect, and acting in its interests.

Question 8

List the points on the continuum

Answer 8

Conception

Individualisation

Primitive streak (14-15 days)

Quickening (13-16 weeks)

Security of pregnancy

Viability

Birth

Personhood

Question 9

Up to what week of pregnancy is abortion currently legal in the UK?

Answer 9

24 weeks

Question 10

What is the point of view of account one: biological humanity?

Answer 10

We have moral status because we are humans.

Question 11

What is the counter-argument for account one: biological?

Answer 11

What counts as a human life, and when does it start?

• Not just Human DNA – every individual cell in our bodies would qualify.
• “moment of conception”? – that “moment” is lengthy and complex
• Warnock’s “twinning argument” – Justification for 14 day limit on research

Question 12

What is the point of view of account two: personhood?

Answer 12

Persons have;
Sentience
Rationality
Capacity for moral agency
Language 
(by Mary Elizabeth Warren)

According to this viewpoint embryos lack these feature

Question 13

What is the counter-argument for account two: personhood?

Answer 13

Could exclude many we might want to say have membership of the moral community – quite a high standard for moral status

E.g. people who have learning/speech difficulties aren’t less human that those who do not.

Question 14

What is the point of view of account three: interests?

Answer 14

Rights are intended to protect interests – rights holders must therefore be capable of having interests of their own.

Interests = having “stakes in things”

To have interests an entity must be sentient = “the capacity for having experiences of any kind”

Therefore according to this viewpoint an embryo cannot be sentient – no nervous system, thus no awareness or experience

Question 15

What is the counter-argument for account three: interests?

HINT = account 4: future like ours

Answer 15

FUTURE LIKE OURS
According to Don Marquis, the interest view fails because it cannot explain why killing a person in a temporary coma is wrong.

They lack sentience, so apparently lack interests. But we don’t think killing them is moral.

While an embryo or foetus cannot take an interest in anything, it does have an interest in living out its future

Murder is wrong because it deprives the victim of their future – the same is true, according to Marquis, for an embryo or a foetus (maybe even eggs and sperm).

BUT
Unlike an embryo, we can have interests which should be respected even if we aren’t fully conscious of them – the interest view does not require permanent, conscious awareness of our interests

Question 16

Does an embryo have moral status (according to the various accounts)?

Answer 16

Human Biology – Yes
Personhood – No
Interests – No
Future Like Ours – Questionable

Question 17

Describe the mitochondrial donation case study

Answer 17

In order to help “cure” maternal mitochondrial defects what happens essential is that the biological component of the two parents are transferred to a donor egg without a mitochondrial defect. This means the developing embryo has “three parents”.

This has recently made legal in the UK – a world first. 3rd February 2015. The world’s first “three parent baby” was born on the 6th April 2016.

Question 18

What are the different viewpoints on mitochondrial donation?

Answer 18

1) Future Generations – mitochondrial transplant will affect the children of the babies born as a result of the donation.
2) Designer babies?
3) Religious opposition due to destruction of “donor” embryos
4) Concern over “rushed” vote
5) Cost – is a right to be pregnant/have genetically related children? Is this a good use of funds?

Question 19

Provide an argument in favour of mitochondrial donation

Answer 19

“Transfusing mitochondria is not unlike transfusing red blood cells in a case of severe anaemia - the main difference being that the mitochondrial treatments last into future generations.
“As an Orthodox Jew, my religious tradition sees no objection to using science in this way. If mitochondrial treatments could prevent disease, this is to be celebrated as we are using the God-given intelligence afforded us.
“We are not altering a child’s characteristics, nor enhancing humans in any way. The scientists are merely trying to ensure that a crippling and sometimes fatal disease is prevented and that future generations will not suffer this horrific sadness.”

Lord Robert Winston

Question 20

Describe the history behind The Committee of Inquiry into Human Fertilisation and Embryology

Answer 20

-Convened in July 1982, chaired by Dame Mary Warnock
“to examine the social, ethical and legal implications of recent, and potential developments in the field of human assisted reproduction”
-Published The Warnock Report in 1984

Explored the ethical considerations behind a range of issues in embryology, including;

• The ethical status of emerging reproductive technologies (IVF first successful in 1978)
• Donation, freezing, and use of eggs, embryos, sperm
• Surrogacy
• Research

Recommended the current 14 day limit on research on embryos
Led to the 1990 Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act (HFEA)

Question 21

What is Warnock’s position on the embryo’s moral status?

Answer 21

“there is no particular part of the developmental process that is more important than another; all are part of a continuous process, and unless each stage takes place normally, at the correct time, and in the correct sequence, further development will cease. Thus biologically there is no one single identifiable stage in the development of the embryo beyond which the in vitro embryo should not be kept alive.”

Question 22

According to Warnock what was the objective of the Warnock Committee?

Answer 22

“Although the questions of when life or personhood begin to appear to be questions of fact susceptible of straightforward answers, we hold that the answers to such questions in fact are complex amalgams of factual and moral judgements. Instead of answering these questions directly we have gone straight to the question of how it is right to treat the human embryo.”