Number One
(Or the Status of the Embryo?)
scientist would use to answer the latter
There are three ways of approaching
the question of the beginning of human two questions should be used to answer
the first question. It is a question which
life:
is typically answered by people who
• When does a human being, a member make a study of biology, especially
of the species homo sapiens, begin? developmental biology or the more
This is a scientific question
specialised human embryology.
• When
does a human person begin?
This is a philosophical (and for some,
theological) question.
The weight of scientific opinion is
overwhelming.
“Individual life begins
with conception by the
union of gametes or sex
cells. A spermatozoon
(paternal) fuses with an
For most the answer to the last question oocyte (maternal) to form a zygote.
will depend upon answers to at least
Growth and development continue
one of the first two questions. However thereafter until a sexually mature adult
for some (perhaps more than we think) is formed.” (M. Brookes and A. Zietman,
the third question is to be answered
Clinical Embryology, Florida, CRC
independent of the first two.
Press, 1998 p.2)
• When
is a human being/person to be
valued? This is a moral, political and
legal question.
These three questions or categories
should not be confused.
The Scientific Question:
When does the life of a human being
begin?
This question is a scientific question. It
is the same kind of question as “when
does the life of a new mouse begin?” or
“when does the life of a new monkey
begin?” The same kind of criteria that a
“Zygote: This cell results from fertilization
of an oocyte by a sperm and is the
beginning of a human being.
Development begins at fertilization, when
a sperm unites with an oocyte to form a
zygote. Each of us started life as a cell
called a zygote.” (K.L. Moore, The
Developing Human: Clinically Oriented
Embryology, 2nd ed., WB Saunders
Publishers, 1977)
(Continued from page 1)
“For each of us life begins at an unfelt,
unhonored instant when a minute,
wriggling sperm plunges headlong into a
mature egg. The quiet egg, destined to
die and rot unless it fuses with the sperm,
reacts with vigorous activity and a spurt
of energy.
impregnation, and fertilization … The
zygote thus formed represents the
beginning of new life.” (J.P. Greenhill and
E.A. Freidman, Biological Principles and
Modern Practice of Obstetrics,
Philadelphia, WB Saunders Publishers)
“it is the penetration of the ovum by a
spermatozoa and the resulting mingling
At this moment, known as fertilization,
of the chromosomal material each brings
not only does a separate entity come into to the union that culminates the process
being, but also its unique individuality.
of fertilization and initiates the life of a
This entity has been endowed with a
new individual. Every one of the high
mysterious but important quality that is
animals starts life as a single cell – the
called viability, or the ability to live, able fertilized ovum. The union of two such
to survive the trials and adversities of life sex cells to form a zygote constitutes the
before birth, as well as life after birth in
process of fertilization and initiates the
nine months hence.” (Dr Tony Lipson,
life a new individual.” (Bradely M Patten,
From Conception to Birth, Our most
Foundations of Embryology, M.D., 3rd ed.
NY, McGraw Hill, 1968)
important journey, Millennium Books,
1994. Dr Lipson is, or was at the time of
"After three billion years of evolution, we
writing, a Paediatrician, Foetal
have before us the instruction set that
Developmentalist and Geneticist at the
carries each of us from the one-cell egg
Children’s Hospital, Sydney).
through adulthood to the grave," Dr.
Robert Waterston, of the International
“The term conception refers to the union Human Genome Sequencing
of the male and female pronuclear
Consortium, told a crowd at the National
Institutes of Health.
“From the time of fertilization onwards the
embryo has the capacity for further
development as an individual human being
provided this is not interrupted…
Therefore it would seem logical to infer
that another human life begins at the time
of fertilisation. If this proposition is
accepted then the next point of
consideration relates to the rights and status
of the human embryo from the point of
fertilisation.” ( Dr John Kerin, then Head
of Reproductive Medicine Unit of Queen
Elizabeth Hospital, Adelaide, giving
evidence to the Senate Inquiry into Human
Embryo Experimentation Bill, 1985)
elements of procreation from which a
new living being develops. It is
synonymous with the terms fecundation,
The “pre-embryo”?
Some years back some scientists sought
to introduce the term “pre-embryo” into
the scientific lexicon. However under the
weight of scientific criticism they withdrew
the use of the term.
(For references
see: Dr Dianne N.
Irving, “The
Immediate Product
of Human Cloning
is a Human Being:
claims to the contrary are scientifically
wrong”, presented to the subcommittee
on Health and Environment of the
Committee on Commerce, U.S. House of
Representatives, Feb 12, 1998, http://
lifeissues.net/writers/irv/
irv_09cloninghuman1.html
historically correct philosophical claims,
or even philosophical claims which are
The Philosophical Question:
theoretically or practically defensible, or
logically valid and sound? Where does
This question is much more difficult to
this bioethics logic take us? I and many
address in a short space. However the
others have demonstrated that these
position is summed up by Dr Dianne N.
arguments have consistently and
Irving in her Testimony to the
extensively used incorrect science, do
Subcommittee on Health and
not match the correct scientific facts and
Environment of the Committee on
are often historically inaccurate and
Commerce U.S. House of philosophically indefensible (e.g. contain
Representatives, February a mind/body split).”
12, 1998.:
(Continued from page 2)
“As with public policy, any
philosophical analysis of
personhood must begin
with and be based on the
correct scientific facts.
This is required for
philosophical realism. Further a thing
acts or functions according to the kind of
nature it has – or what it is. If a “human
being” is a “rational animal”; if the term
“rational” must include virtually the
vegetative and sensitive powers; if all of
its powers must be present
simultaneously with the body, with no
splits – then personhood must begin
when the human being begins – at
fertilisation or cloning – when the “matter
“ is already “appropriately organized”.
The various markers given as for when
personhood is “present” are arbitrary
when one considers the condition of the
embryo itself. The embryo (or foetus,
when the marker is later in the life
journey) is not substantially different
before or after any of the supposed
marker events.
Is the human embryo to be
valued?
This question can be a moral question, a
legal question and/or a political question.
Generally speaking it is usually assumed
that one’s answer to this third question
depends upon one’s answer to at least
one of the first two questions if not both.
The question “when does a human
This actually matches the correct
person begin” is usually understood as
science: immediately at fertilization or
cloning, specifically human enzymes and “value laden”, i.e. once a person begins,
he or she is to be valued.
proteins are produced and specifically
human tissues and organs are
continuously developed from fertilization
or cloning on. Personhood, then, should
be based on what something is, not on
how one actually thinks of feels (merely
functional definitions of a human person).
Yet other philosophical answers have
been offered ... The question must be,
do those arguments for “delayed”
personhood square with or match the
correct scientific facts; are they based on
However this does not always seem to
be the case. There would appear to be
some who seek to answer this third
question independent of the first two.
Whether the embryo is a human being
or a human person is deemed
irrelevant.
human being with his own growth. It
would never be made human if it were
not human already.
To this perpetual evidence - perfectly
independent of the discussions on the
moment of animation - modern genetic
science brings valuable confirmation. It
has demonstrated that, from the first
According to this stance it is up to us
(where “us” might be society, parents, a instant, there is established the program
of what this living being will be: a man,
particular group or a particular
this individual man with his
individual) to decide when another
characteristic aspects already well
being is to be valued.
determined. Right from fertilization is
Invariably these judgments are arbitrary begun the adventure of a human life,
and each of its capacities requires timeand serve the person(s) making the
a rather lengthy time- to find its place
judgment in some way. One scientist
based valuing the other upon how you and to be in a position to act. .. From a
moral point of view this is certain: even
feel about what you are looking at!
if a doubt existed concerning whether
the fruit of conception is already a
Such subjective judgments cannot be
human person, it is objectively a grave
the basis for public policy. Our great
sin to dare to risk murder. "The one who
legal and moral tradition is built upon
the recognition of the inherent value of will be a man is already one." (Sacred
every human life. To accept any other Congregation for the Doctrine of the
Faith, Declaration on Abortion, 1974)
standard would be to introduce
arbitrariness and hence injustice into
“Certainly no experimental datum can
our public policy. Unfortunately such
be in itself sufficient to bring us to the
arbitrariness has been introduced into
our legal system by virtue of a few court recognition of a spiritual soul;
cases which have never been tested in nevertheless, the conclusions of
a higher court.
science regarding the human embryo
provide a valuable indication for
discerning by the use of reason a
personal presence at the moment of
CHURCH TEACHING
this first appearance of a human life:
In her official teaching the how could a human individual not be a
Catholic Church has made human person?” (Sacred Congregation
for the Doctrine of the Faith, The Gift of
several statements the
Life, 1987).
beginning of life and
respect for human life from
its earliest stages:
“In reality, respect for human life is
called for from the time that the process
of generation begins. From the time that
the ovum is fertilized, a life is begun
which is neither that of the father nor of
the mother, it is rather the life of a new