Scarlet A by Katie Watson

Author:Katie Watson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Published: 2017-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

2. Weeks 1–2 C/Weeks 3–4 LMP: Early Embryonic Processes

Policy Example:Frozen embryos

Advances in assisted reproductive technology (ART), such as in vitro fertilization (IVF), have increased scientific knowledge about early embryonic processes. It is now clear that twinning can happen before, but not after, 14 days. Some philosophers focus on individuality as the key to personhood. This science leads them to conclude that an embryo is not a unique entity until the possibility of splitting into two embryos has passed. Religious thinkers focused on ensoulment have cited this line as well. They assert that a soul cannot split in two, and therefore ensoulment cannot happen until fourteen days after conception (4 weeks LMP).

ART has also raised issues that are beyond the scope of this book—such as the moral and legal status of the hundreds of thousands of frozen morulae and blastocysts (commonly referred to as embryos, although they’re under a week old) that couples have made, then left behind in frozen storage in U.S. fertility clinics. Here I simply note that courts usually give couples who disagree (for example, after divorce) equal say on what shall become of embryos that exist outside a woman’s body. If the man doesn’t want to procreate, the woman can’t use them, and vice versa.

According to Professor Steinbock’s interest-based approach (described in Chapter 4), abortion doesn’t wrong embryos or pre-conscious fetuses because they have no stake in what happens to them. However, Steinbock argues that entities without moral status (because they do not have interests) can still have what she calls moral standing, which is a claim on our moral attention. Steinbock argues that an embryo is a potential person that serves as a symbol of human life, and this potential and symbolic value means it deserves more respect than human cells lacking these qualities. Therefore, she argues, while embryos don’t have a moral status that warrants “Golden Rule” treatment in which we consider their interests (because they have none), and therefore they may be used for stem cell research, their moral standing means they deserve a respect that prohibits them from being put to frivolous or trivial uses in a laboratory.

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