Stem Cell Research, Therapeutic Cloning, and the Ethics of Embryo Destruction

Abstract

This article is concerned primarily with the ethics of embryonic stem cell research (ESCR) and therapeutic cloning(TC). More specifically, it is concerned with the question of whether or not ESCR and TC ought to be prohibited or opposed out of concern for the embryos that are destroyed in these procedures. Since in vitro fertilization (IVF) also involves the destruction of human embryos, I consider the ethics of ESCR and TC in relation to the ethics of IVF. The principal question of this article is whether or not it is rational to oppose ESCR and TC while, at the same time, allowing or supporting IVF as a method to help infertile couples conceive. I argue that if pre-implantation embryos can be harmed, then IVF involves no less harm to embryos than do ESCR and TC. Furthermore, I argue that there is no justification for a discriminatory attitude towards these procedures: the embryos involved in IVF deserve just as much, or as little, protection as the embryos involved in ESCR and TC do. Thus, I conclude that if we oppose ESCR and TC, then we ought to oppose IVF as well, and, conversely,that if we accept IVF, then we ought to accept ESCR and TC. Since IVF is legal, publicly available, and widely accepted in countries such as the U.S. and South Korea, two of the many countries that are currently considering banning ESCR and TC, the governments of these nations ought instead to legalize these procedures make their medical and scientific benefits available to the public.