Re: [asa] The unexpected burden of IVF

Jack said: *if the embryos are there, and they are just going to be
destroyed, why shouldnt we use them for stem cell research, even if one
thinks that they are fully human?
*
I agree that this is a thorny question. I think initially the best I can
say is that I'm very uncomfortable with what seems like a purely utilitarian
approach to the problem. I think utilitarian ethics generally lead in bad
places, so I don't want to accept the posture that using these frozen
embryos for research at least puts some positive utility for potential
beneficiaries of the research onto what is otherwise nothing but a negative
utility for the embryo. For one thing, thinking along these lines seems to
suggest that a frozen embryo is some sort of fungible *res* in which someone
could have a property right. That line of thought seems to have many bad
implications.

But I also don't want to accept the assumption that all of these embryos
necessarily *must* be destroyed one way or the other. I want to ask a
bigger question concerning what a virtuous society ought to do with these
embryos. I'm not sure I know an easy answer to this -- for example, I have
to confess that "embryo adoption" makes me very uncomfortable for a bunch of
reasons. Maybe in most cases the "best" or at least "least bad" thing is to
leave them frozen with the hope that perhaps someday technical and social
conditions will permit them to be brought into their full human potential
(maybe in the eschaton? who knows...).

On 9/6/07, drsyme@cablespeed.com <drsyme@cablespeed.com> wrote:
>
>
> In looking up something for the "worthy response" thread. I came across
this article.
>
> http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2006/07/souls_on_ice.html
>
> There are several interesting points in this article. First of all they
estimate that there are 500,000 embryos in cryo storage without any clear
destination.
>
> Second, I am impressed with how much these parents struggle with the issue
of these frozen embryos, and what to do with them. If there are so many
people that think of these embryo's as human, that gives some weight to
David O's view that because they are potentially people they are people.
(And even though I find it interesting it is not enough to convince me that
David's position is correct.)
>
> Third, I expect someone to mention Nazi medical experiments with this
comment, but if the embryos are there, and they are just going to be
destroyed, why shouldnt we use them for stem cell research, even if one
thinks that they are fully human?
>
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Received on Thu Sep 6 17:02:00 2007