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...