Where do human embryos come from?
- From the combining of sperm and egg (fertilization)
- From embryo splitting (fission)
- From somatic cell nuclear transfer ( cloning)
Are embryos human? Are they really one of us?
Embryos are no different in their essential humanity from a fetus in the womb, a 10-year old boy, or a 100-year old woman. At every stage of development, human beings (whether zygote, blastocyst, embryo, fetus, infant, adolescent, or adult) retain their identity as an enduring being that grows towards its subsequent stage(s); embryos are integral beings structured for maturation along their proper time line. Despite their unfamiliar appearance, embryos are what very young humans are supposed to look like.
Isn’t it a matter of religious belief as to when human beings begin?
It is not a matter of religious belief, but a matter of biology. A human embryo is a human being, a being that is clearly and unmistakably human. It is not a zebra-type of being, a plant-type of being or some other kind of being. Each of us was once an embryo, and this affirmation does not depend on religion, belief systems or imposing anything on anyone. It depends only on a grasp of basic biology. It is a matter of empirical observation. Once you are constituted a human being (which always occurs at fertilization or at an event that mimics fertilization, like cloning), you are a new member of the human race who must be protected unconditionally. The human embryo is a being that is human, and such beings are inviolable entities, because that’s what we all directly spring from at the root level.
Why is the destruction of human embryos wrong?
The well-known moral principle that good ends do not justify immoral means applies directly here. Once you’re a being who is human, you are the bearer of human rights and you should never be violated for any reason. We know that the human embryo is a human being because it possesses an internal code for self-actualization and is an organism with an independent and inherent teleology (goal-directedness) to develop into an adult, and is physiologically alive and genetically human. Our existence as human beings is a continuum that extends all the way back to our origins in the humble ball of cells we call an embryo. Each of us has our origins in such an embryo, and therefore human embryos should never be depersonalized or instrumentalized for research purposes by strip-mining them for their cells or tissues.
Information taken from Stem Cell Research, Cloning & Human Embryos brochure written by Rev. Dr. Tadeusx Pacholczyk
Published and distributed by Family Research Council,
801 G Street NW Washington, DC 20001
www.frc.org
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