当前位置： SCI文献检索 > JOURNAL OF MEDICAL ETHICS期刊下所有文献 > Embryonic life and human life.

Embryonic life and human life.

Abstract：

:A new human life comes into being not when there is mere cellular life in a human embryo, but when the newly developing body organs and systems begin to function as a whole, the author argues. This is symmetrical with the dealth of an existing human life, which occurs when its organs and systems have permanently ceased to function as a whole. Thus a new human life cannot begin until the development of a functioning brain which has begun to co-ordinate and organise the activities of the body as a whole. :Shea presents arguments for determining the beginning of human life as that time when fetal organs and systems begin to function as an organized whole, directed by the brain. She defines the zygote and embryo as transitional stages, periods of differentiation and multiplication at the cellular level. After an embryo reaches a certain degree of complexity, development can continue only if its parts begin to function together at a holistic level, laying the foundation for more advanced activities of synthesis and thought. Shea concludes with a brief discussion of the ethical implications that this definition of life has for in vitro fertilization (IVF), experimentation with "spare" IVF embryos, and abortion. :The author argues that human life comes into being when the newly developing body organs and systems begin to function as a whole. According to this approach, human life is not a state but an activity. Support for this thesis comes from the biologic definition of life: a living organism is cellular, can store and transmit information, reproduce itself, and is the product of an evolutionary process. For the whole to function as one organism, there needs to be sufficient brain activity to regulate and coordinate the workings of the various body organs and systems. The nature of the fetus is sufficiently different from that of the embryo to make to evident that a change of nature has occurred. The transitional status of the fetus offers a means of addressing the ethical dilemmas of abortion and fetal research--to extend care and protection to embryonic life unless this conflicts with the good of fully human life. If regard is given to the embryo's transitional, near-human status, a decision to abort would be unethical unless all relevant facts were weighed.

journal_name

J Med Ethics

journal_title

Journal of medical ethics

authors

Shea MC

doi

10.1136/jme.11.4.205

subject

Has Abstract

pub_date

1985-12-01 00:00:00

pages

205-9

issue

eissn

0306-6800

issn

1473-4257

journal_volume

pub_type

杂志文章

在线工具

Embryonic life and human life.