Ethics of Embryonic Stem Cell Research

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Ethics Week 4 Embryonic stem cell research poses an ethical dilemma. In the case of embryonic stem cell research, it is impossible to respect both moral principles. To obtain embryonic stem cells, the early embryo has to be destroyed. This means destroying a potential human life. But embryonic stem cell research could lead to the discovery of new medical treatments that would alleviate the suffering of many people. The question of using stem cells for research is fundamentally scientific, and yet has become the political issue in our nation’s capital. The debate surrounding the cells threatens to tear traditional alliances, challenging our comprehension of life and leaving some abortion opponents in a very uncomfortable spot. In Kant’s view the argument rests on if a life is lost, we tend to feel differently about it depending on the stage of the lost life. A fertilized egg before implantation in the uterus could be granted a lesser degree of respect than a human fetus or a born baby. More than half of all fertilized eggs are lost due to natural causes. If the natural process involves such loss, then using some embryos in stem cell research should not worry us either. I am certain that Kant would look to the overall situation and the benefits for the future and the health of others. In Aquinas view the siding falls on the fact that we protect a person’s life and interests not because they are valuable from the point of view of the creation, but because they are important to the person concerned. Whatever moral status the human embryo has for us, the life that it lives has a value to the embryo itself. If we judge the moral status of the embryo from its age, then we are making arbitrary decisions about who is human. For example, even if we say development of the nervous system marks the start of life, we still would not say a patient who has lost nerve cells in
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