Christian Worldview Concepts

The Ethics of Embryonic Biology

Respect Without Rights

Embryonic stem cell research advocates assure us that this concern can be overcome by treating the embryos with respect. In 1979, the Ethics Advisory Board set up by the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare (now the Dept. of Health and Human Services) declared, "The human embryo is entitled to profound respect, but this respect does not necessarily encompass the full legal and moral rights attributed to persons."³

What does respect look like when the embryo is killed in order to extract its stem cells? According to recent guidelines published by the National Institutes of Health, IVF couples donating embryos should not be offered the option of donation until after they have decided to discard the embryos, and they stipulate that no money be given the couple donating the embryos. How do these stipulations actually show respect for the embryo? Will the embryo die happier knowing that her parents were paid nothing to have her killed?

Both of these regulations speak to the relationship between the clinic, physician and biological parents of the embryos, but not directly to the embryos. Not offering money to purchase embryos may in some way prevent exploitation of the poor but it does not to prevent the exploitation of the poor embryos. These guidelines are little more than window dressing.

It is quite obvious that the proponents of embryonic stem cell research remain uncomfortable dehumanizing that which is human if they feel compelled to claim that every effort will be made to ensure that embryos are treated with "dignity" and "respect." If these embryos are not human beings, then why all of the talk about dignity? If they are just a collection of cells, similar to a liver, tonsils or appendix, why speak of dignity and respect? If they are merely the period at the end of a sentence, a dot on a blank page or akin to a goldfish, why promise that their demise will be treated with respect and that it is for a noble cause?

³ U. S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare, 1979, p. 107
⁴ National Institutes of Health, 2000. National Institutes of Health Guidelines for Research Using Human Pluripotent Stem Cells. stemcells.nih.gov