William P. Cheshire, Jr. & Nancy L. Jones, Can Artificial Techniques Supply Morally Neutral Human Embryos for Research?

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William P. Cheshire, Jr. & Nancy L. Jones, Can Artificial Techniques Supply Morally Neutral Human Embryos for Research? 21 ETHICS & MED. 73 (2005).

Some investigators have suggested that human embryos created through technologically novel means, such as asexual combination of gametes, cloning, or parthenogenesis, lack the moral value of embryos created through fertilization, in which genetic material from one egg and one sperm unite. Does the application of technology to alter the genetic composition of the human embryo result in artificial forms of life that may be categorized as morally inert and subject to ownership?

For the essence of something to be artificial, it would not suffice to reshape existing matter. Rather it would have to be humanly created out of nothing, artificially begotten as well as made. The natural process of human procreation regularly achieves what technology alone cannot duplicate. Technology simply lacks the competence to create life. Its contribution is limited to manipulating what already exists. Likewise science...

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