Christian views on medical research and embryos.

by fatherjosh100 (student)

GCSE Religious Studies (Philosophy & Ethics)

Medical research and embryos

The British Law on the use of embryos for medical research is that all of the research has to be licensed and regulated by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority. The authority grants such permission as to allow permission for very specific reasons such as improving knowledge about a serious disease(s).

The reasons for which Christians object the use of embryos in medical technology is because they believe that life begins as a new human being from the day of conception. Therefore they believe it has the right to live. Christians believe that terminating the embryo is murder as it is a Commandment, ‘Thou shall not kill.’ They also oppose the exploitation and misuse of human embryos.

On the other hand, other Christians such as Liberal Protestant Christians believe that at this early stage the embryo is just a potential human life, therefore using them for research will allow other human beings to receive benefits. Therefore they support the use of human embryos for therapeutic purposes, however they oppose other uses including any possible reproductive cloning.

In such cases many would agree that it would be illogical and obstructive to prevent scientists using human embryos for medical research but many others may disagree.

On one hand of the argument I do ...

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On the other hand, other Christians such as Liberal Protestant Christians believe that at this early stage the embryo is just a potential human life, therefore using them for research will allow other human beings to receive benefits. Therefore they support the use of human embryos for therapeutic purposes, however they oppose other uses including any possible reproductive cloning.

In such cases many would agree that it would be illogical and obstructive to prevent scientists using human embryos for medical research but many others may disagree.

On one hand of the argument I do agree that stunting the medical research on embryos would be obstructive and illogical. Over the past years advances in technology have been vast going from the first ever radio station to the extraordinary research in human embryos. In which case why should we not bother to look into human embryos and discover ways on improving human life quality? This whole case is an example of sustainable development, on one hand you may have helped the mother of the unborn child giving birth to a baby she wouldn’t have taken care of, whilst at the same time putting in the time to research in human development. This is resolving outcomes of the present day while thinking of the needs of future generations. In which case if this is all legal under UK law then why should stop to consider not advancing in research?

On the other hand however I think that using medical technology to look into embryos and use them in test labs is wrong. Many Christians (not all) and Roman Catholics believe that it is wrong to put research into embryos as it is effectively killing a living human being (they believe life begins at conception.) However, from a non Christian view I would of thought that people would have found it wrong that an unborn child ready to live a normal human life has been taken into a test lab for research. Surely we should let nature lead ourselves through our lives without making illogical medical research to try and ‘improve’ human quality. The life process includes the developing of a baby in the mother’s womb, in which case we are effectively testing living human beings.

To conclude I think that it is illogical and obstructive to interfere with the human life process and that we should just let nature take us through the paths of evolution not a test lab.