How are we to define the moral community, the set of beings with full and equal moral rights, such that we can decide whether a human fetus is a member of this community or not?
After considering Dr. Warren's question I have come to agree with many of her considerations. I understand the "genetic" or "moral" sense of how a human being is considered however a biological standpoint seems to be more suitable when discussing the issue of abortion. "Deciding Who is Human," Noonan argues for the classification of fetuses with human beings by pointing to the presence of the full genetic code, and the potential capacity for rational thought.' It is clear that what he needs to show, for his version of the traditional argument to be valid, is that fetuses are human in the moral sense in the absence of any argument showing that whatever is genetically human is also morally human, and he gives none, nothing more than genetic humanity can be demonstrated by the presence of the human genetic code. In my opinion the point at which a human becomes a human is not at conception when the two gammetes join together their versions of a genetic code. Moral Personhood begins in the latter portion of developement. Around 7-12 weeks after this period is when brain and lung function is completed. One could argue human's are not "sentient" until this point in time when their brains and central nervous systems are completed. If a fire breaks out in a fertility clinic and you can only save a petri dish with five blastulae or a two-year old child, which do you save if all are equally persons?" No because the fully formed child was found to be fit enough to survive and now are a functioning member of society.
Our own bodies abort zygotes for many reasons it is a basic part of life that not every oocyte and sperm will carry out their biological function. We cannot hold these gametes or joined gametes as highly as humans each male produces billions and each women around 400. The ability to procreate is dispensible. The first 3 weeks are the most hazardous periods in your life. Roughly one third to one half of all fertilized zygotes never make it beyond this point. Sadly, many women will have at least one miscarriage in their childbearing year. Nondisjunctions can produce an egg or sperm that has an abnormal number of chromosomes or broken chromosomes. This is almost always lethal. About half of the early miscarriages in humans are afflicted with this kind of random chromosomal defect. Errors in mitosis after ferilization. A nondisjunction in a dividing blastula may produce one abnormal cell -- but since the blastula has so few cells, that means a significant fraction of the embryo is defective, preventing further development. Implantation errors of human embryos in the uterus reley on hormones and if the mother's hormones are not just right, that can prevent implantation, and the otherwise healthy zygote may be aborted. In addition, 0.5 - 1% of all pregnancies are ectopic: the zygote tries to implant in the wrong place, most often in the fallopian tubes. This is always fatal for the embryo, and has the potential to be fatal for the mother.
So in cases of rape, inability to support a child, medical complications, and the fact that humans are overpopulated I would have to agree with abortion until the third trimester of pregnancy.
Another biological arguement for abortion is the amazing quality that our cells posess. It was estimated in 2002 that 396,526 embryos were in storage at U.S. fertility clinics. The embryos may be used for future pregnancy attempts, donated to other couples or agencies, given to researchers, or discarded. The survey says 73 percent of the 636 respondents favored using leftover embryos for stem-cell research. This is because Embryonic stem cells are pluripotent, meaning they are able differentiate into all derivatives of the three primary germ layers: ectoderm, endoderm and mesoderm. Stem cells can develop into each of the more than 200 cell types of the adult body as long as they are specified to do so.
Somatic cells, by definition, are not germline cells.
In mammals, germline cells are the sperm and ova which fuse during fertilization to produce a cell called a zygote, from which the entire mammalian embryo develops.
Every other cell type in the mammalian body is a somatic cell; internal organs skin, bones, blood and connective tissue are all made up of somatic cells.
cloning cells(not humans) involves removing the nucleus of an unfertilized egg cell, replacing it with the material from the nucleus of a "somatic cell" (a skin, heart, or nerve cell, for example), and stimulating this cell to begin dividing. This type of medicine may be able to help many people. We are not at risk for cloning human beings with this type of process especially since the majorty of scientists are against human cloning. This is simply a way to help people with lifethreatening diseases with building blocks of life.
After considering Dr. Warren's question I have come to agree with many of her considerations. I understand the "genetic" or "moral" sense of how a human being is considered however a biological standpoint seems to be more suitable when discussing the issue of abortion. "Deciding Who is Human," Noonan argues for the classification of fetuses with human beings by pointing to the presence of the full genetic code, and the potential capacity for rational thought.' It is clear that what he needs to show, for his version of the traditional argument to be valid, is that fetuses are human in the moral sense in the absence of any argument showing that whatever is genetically human is also morally human, and he gives none, nothing more than genetic humanity can be demonstrated by the presence of the human genetic code. In my opinion the point at which a human becomes a human is not at conception when the two gammetes join together their versions of a genetic code. Moral Personhood begins in the latter portion of developement. Around 7-12 weeks after this period is when brain and lung function is completed. One could argue human's are not "sentient" until this point in time when their brains and central nervous systems are completed. If a fire breaks out in a fertility clinic and you can only save a petri dish with five blastulae or a two-year old child, which do you save if all are equally persons?" No because the fully formed child was found to be fit enough to survive and now are a functioning member of society.
Our own bodies abort zygotes for many reasons it is a basic part of life that not every oocyte and sperm will carry out their biological function. We cannot hold these gametes or joined gametes as highly as humans each male produces billions and each women around 400. The ability to procreate is dispensible. The first 3 weeks are the most hazardous periods in your life. Roughly one third to one half of all fertilized zygotes never make it beyond this point. Sadly, many women will have at least one miscarriage in their childbearing year. Nondisjunctions can produce an egg or sperm that has an abnormal number of chromosomes or broken chromosomes. This is almost always lethal. About half of the early miscarriages in humans are afflicted with this kind of random chromosomal defect. Errors in mitosis after ferilization. A nondisjunction in a dividing blastula may produce one abnormal cell -- but since the blastula has so few cells, that means a significant fraction of the embryo is defective, preventing further development. Implantation errors of human embryos in the uterus reley on hormones and if the mother's hormones are not just right, that can prevent implantation, and the otherwise healthy zygote may be aborted. In addition, 0.5 - 1% of all pregnancies are ectopic: the zygote tries to implant in the wrong place, most often in the fallopian tubes. This is always fatal for the embryo, and has the potential to be fatal for the mother.
So in cases of rape, inability to support a child, medical complications, and the fact that humans are overpopulated I would have to agree with abortion until the third trimester of pregnancy.
Another biological arguement for abortion is the amazing quality that our cells posess. It was estimated in 2002 that 396,526 embryos were in storage at U.S. fertility clinics. The embryos may be used for future pregnancy attempts, donated to other couples or agencies, given to researchers, or discarded. The survey says 73 percent of the 636 respondents favored using leftover embryos for stem-cell research. This is because Embryonic stem cells are pluripotent, meaning they are able differentiate into all derivatives of the three primary germ layers: ectoderm, endoderm and mesoderm. Stem cells can develop into each of the more than 200 cell types of the adult body as long as they are specified to do so.
Somatic cells, by definition, are not germline cells.
In mammals, germline cells are the sperm and ova which fuse during fertilization to produce a cell called a zygote, from which the entire mammalian embryo develops.
Every other cell type in the mammalian body is a somatic cell; internal organs skin, bones, blood and connective tissue are all made up of somatic cells.
cloning cells(not humans) involves removing the nucleus of an unfertilized egg cell, replacing it with the material from the nucleus of a "somatic cell" (a skin, heart, or nerve cell, for example), and stimulating this cell to begin dividing. This type of medicine may be able to help many people. We are not at risk for cloning human beings with this type of process especially since the majorty of scientists are against human cloning. This is simply a way to help people with lifethreatening diseases with building blocks of life.
1 comment:
I agree with your conclusions. Notice, though, that Warren does not, and moves to reject the full "personhood" of newborns.
It is indeed tragic what the current mentally and morally impaired occupant of the White House has been allowed to do to stem cell research.
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