Ethics of stem cell research

Essay by donnarae55High School, 12th grade October 2014

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The Ethical Questions of Embryonic Stem Cell Research

Donna Guillory

Professor Maxfield

LAS 301 OF

18 September 2014

In the field of medical ethics, there is one topic in today's society that affects a lot of

controversy whenever it is brought up. This topic is that of the research on embryonic stem cells

for medicines of the future. Stem cell research is something that has been around for quite some

time but in the last two decades, the use of embryos for stem cells has grown substantially causing

much disagreement amongst many people. It is not the practice of using stem cells in scientific and

medical procedures that is the cause of the controversy, but that many of these cells are being

harvested from the embryos of many unborn children. Much of the debate on the issue of using

embryonic stem cells comes from the moral concern for the life that the embryo could have possibly

been born into if it had the chance.

Also another major moral question that is pivotal in the

understanding of this topic is whether or not the embryo is considered human and if it can enjoy the

same rights that we as adult humans enjoy. The answers to these questions are very deep grey areas,

and there is much disagreement as to which school of thought on the subject has the correct point of

view. This worldwide debate draws people of many different cultures into play and is fronted mainly

by religious organizations with the argument from the scientific community, that it is ethical.

The main focus of the Christian community on embryonic stem cells, is on the fact that a human

life is being used as a means for this medical research. In the Christian faith, the life is something that

lasts from...