Transcript Document

When does a clump of cells become
a person with full moral status?
The question matters whether you believe in God or not….
Immanuel Kant “Every human being must be treated not merely
as a means to an end but as an end in itself”
zygote
blastocyst
36hrs
fertilization
Examine this chart of
development from
gametes to neonate
At what stage
would you
draw the line?
morula
gametes
7days
implantation
gastrula
14days
birth / neonate
neurulation
foetus
> 24 weeks
22days
24weeks
20weeks
EEG activity
Heart beat
zygote
blastocyst
36hrs
UK Law
fertilization
morula
gametes
Current UK legislation on the
attainment of personhood is
paradoxical in that it draws
lines of moral status at 2
points:
implantation
gastrula
14days
birth / neonate
14 days for embryo
research
24 weeks for abortion
7days
neurulation
foetus
> 24 weeks
24weeks
22days
20weeks
EEG activity
Heart beat
zygote
blastocyst
36hrs
UK Public
Opinion
fertilization
morula
gametes
In a 2008 poll*, 43% of UK
adults thought the first
heartbeat was the start of
personhood
7days
implantation
gastrula
40 weeks
14days
birth / neonate
neurulation
foetus
> 24 weeks
22days
24weeks
* Reproductive Biology Assoc Inc. International Poll 2008
20weeks
Heart beat
EEG activity
zygote
Roman
Catholicism
blastocyst
36hrs
fertilization
morula
The majority Roman Catholic
view, expounded by Donum
Vitae 1987 and reinforced by
Dignitas Personae 2008 is
that ensoulment or
personhood begins at the
moment of conception
gametes
7days
implantation
gastrula
14days
40 weeks
birth / neonate
A minority of Catholic
theologians have argued,
along the lines of St Thomas
Aquinas, that ‘delayed’
ensoulment occurs when the
spirit relates to form
ie. When the primitive streak
appears
neurulation
foetus
> 26 weeks
22days
24weeks
20weeks
Heart beat
EEG activity
zygote
Protestant
Christianity
blastocyst
36hrs
fertilization
morula
gametes
There is a great diversity of
view within Protestantism
about the time of ensoulment.
Generally speaking most
believers would view the
unique person being created
by God within the first 2
weeks.
birth / neonate
The range of beliefs is
normally either conception
(often held by evangelicals or foetus
anglo-catholics), implantation > 24 weeks
– start of relationship with the
mother or neurulation (spirit / 24weeks
form as per Thomas Aquinas).
7days
implantation
gastrula
14days
neurulation
20weeks EEG activity
22days
Heart beat
zygote
blastocyst
36hrs
Islam
fertilization
Islamic scholars down through
the centuries have
gametes
consistently upheld the
teaching of delayed
ensoulment. The process of
ensoulment reaching fruition
at a point between 40 and
120 days gestation*
40 weeks
Abortion after 120 days is not
birth / neonate
allowed.
120 days
morula
7days
implantation
gastrula
14days
neurulation
quickening
Some Jurists argue
for the protection of
foetus
> 24 weeks
the fertilized
40 days
embryo and
24weeks
therefore are
against embryo
20weeks
research
* Maliki school says earlier
22days
Heart beat
EEG activity
zygote
Hinduism
fertilization
The Vedas teach that all life is
sacred. However, human life
gametes
is the highest level of
conciousness. The divine
spark, or soul enters at 120
days (Artma). Hindus also
perform a pre-birth ceremony
at 7 months when personhood
40weeks
is fully achieved.
120 days
blastocyst
36hrs
birth / neonate
morula
7days
implantation
gastrula
14days
neurulation
quickening
Thus, although the
early embryo is to be
respected, it is the
40 days
120 day time point
which is a key event
in the acquiring of
human personhood.
foetus
> 24 weeks
22days
24weeks
20weeks
Heart beat
EEG activity
zygote
Judaism
fertilization
Rabbinic thought varies
considerably on the emergence of gametes
personhood.
Rabbi Judah the Patriach
held that it occurred at
conception.
Talmudic teaching is that
personhood is only obtained at
birth and that the baby
only has equivalent 120 days birth / neonate
status with the
quickening
mother when half
foetus
in and half out of the womb.
40 days
blastocyst
36hrs
morula
7days
implantation
gastrula
14days
neurulation
> 24 weeks
Other teachings hold that after 40
24weeks
days the foetus has special status
which precludes abortion for all
20weeks
but the most serious reasons.
22days
Heart beat
EEG activity
zygote
Buddhism
blastocyst
36h
fertilization
Generally speaking,
gametes
personhood is not an issue for
Buddhists. Consciousness
comes from conception therefore this is a critical
stage. Genetic makeup of the
individual from the blastocyst
stage onward can be affected
by Karmic influences. This
birth / neonate
has led some Buddhists to
define the blastocyst as the
foetus
key stage in personhood.
morula
7d
implantation
gastrula
14d
neurulation
> 24 weeks
22d
Heart beat
24w
EEG activity
zygote
Does developmental
fertilization
biology inform
this debate?
gametes
Whilst embryo / foetal
development is a continuum,
there are 5 recognized stages
at which scientists have
suggested personhood could
potentially be defined as
beginning although these are birth / neonate
hotly contested and debated.
1
2
3
4
5
Fertilization
Syngamy – new genome
Gastrulation (Individuation)
EEG activity
Birth
blastocyst
morula
implantation
gastrula
neurulation
foetus
> 24 weeks
Heart beat
EEG activity
zygote
Fertilization
blastocyst
fertilization
Contrary to popular thought,
there is no ‘moment’ of
gametes
fertilization. It is a process
that can take up to 36 hours.
Processes include capacitation
of the sperm, oocyte
chemoattraction, penetration
of the zona pellucida by the
sperm and eventual zygote
formation. This impacts on
birth / neonate
personhood simply in that
there is no definable new
being or entity for at least a
foetus
day following sexual union.
> 24 weeks
This has implications for those
who might oppose emergency
contraception in cases of
rape.
morula
implantation
gastrula
neurulation
Heart beat
EEG activity
zygote
blastocyst
Syngamy
fertilization
Defining personhood in terms of
the creation of a novel genome
gametes
is also fraught with difficulty.
Even though a new genetically
distinct entity is formed at the
emergence of the zygote, there
is still the possibility that the
zygote will form multiple entities
or that multiple zygotes will fuse
to form one. Also it is possible birth / neonate
the zygote will form a tumour
rather than a viable foetus. In
terms of personhood this is
foetus
problematic. Early blastomeres
> 24 weeks
within a blastocyst are
totipotent – so in theory could
form multiple persons.
morula
implantation
gastrula
neurulation
Heart beat
EEG activity
zygote
Gastrulation
blastocyst
fertilization
By 14 days, the implanted
embryo begins to exhibit
gametes
differentiated cellular
structures. This is probably
the first point at which
biological individuality occurs.
Monozygotic twinning can
occur up to day 12. Thus
several philosophers
(including Mary Warnock, Ron birth / neonate
Green) talk about the origins
of personhood and
theologians such as Ford and
foetus
Olsen, Shannon and Walter
> 24 weeks
talk about ‘delayed
ensoulment’ as occuring
around this time.
morula
implantation
gastrula
neurulation
Heart beat
EEG activity
zygote
EEG activity
blastocyst
fertilization
Burst of EEG activity can be
detected in the developing
foetus at around 20 weeks
gametes
gestation. There is a
persuasive argument that if
cessation of electroencephalogram activity marks
the end of life, surely the
instigation of EEG marks its
start. This would imply that
birth / neonate
being a person is bound up
with a functioning cortex.
The potential for the brain to
foetus
experience pain at this point
> 24 weeks
has informed the abortion
debate but the ability to ‘sense’
the external environment is a
key facet to personhood.
morula
implantation
gastrula
neurulation
Heart beat
EEG activity
zygote
Birth
blastocyst
fertilization
If there is a critical tipping
point in foetal development, it
gametes
is during the process of
delivery of the neonate.
Abrupt changes in
cardiovascular and pulmonary
function occur to sustain life
extra-utero. There is no
doubt that we talk of a newborn infant as a ‘person’ and birth / neonate
most societies have enshrined
legal registration and
protection of babies as
foetus
persons in society. But does
> 24 weeks
that mean that a foetus in the
womb 5 minutes before birth
is any less of a person?
morula
implantation
gastrula
neurulation
Heart beat
EEG activity