Unit 12 - Medical ethics: beginning and end of life issues (8RS0)
Institution
PEARSON (PEARSON)
A summary of the Edexcel Zig-Zag guide to religion and ethics within the religious studies A-Level, organised by the specification to ensure that all areas are covered. Includes scholars' quotes and the basic knowledge of the medical ethics topic. Got an A in A-Level religious studies.
Unit 12 - Medical ethics: beginning and end of life issues (8RS0)
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MEDICAL ETHICS
THE STATUS OF THE EMBRYO
The status of the embryo discusses at what stage an embryo becomes human. At one end of
the spectrum, there are those who claim a human comes into being the moment a sperm
fertilises an egg; at the other are those who argue that even a newborn is not worthy of
personhood. Where the line is drawn between these two extremes is crucial to determining
whether certain kinds of research, fertility treatments and medical procedures are morally
permissible.
CONCEPTS OF SANCTITY AND VALUE OF LIFE
Issues in medical ethics are grounded in the arguments of those who support the sanctity of
life and those whose considerations lie with the value of life.
Sanctity of Life: The idea that each and every life has intrinsic and absolute value. Those
who uphold the sanctity of life ethic often do for religious reasons, in the belief that, since
life is God-given, it is sacred and so it is always wrong to end it. Advocates for the sanctity of
life are more likely to be against embryo research, IVF, abortion, assisted dying and
euthanasia.
Value of Life: The idea that the value of life depends on how satisfying it is to the person
living it. An individual who has a very low quality of life may not have a life worth living.
Hence, not all lives have value. Value of life arguments are often used to justify certain
forms of embryo research, IVF, abortion, assisted dying and euthanasia.
For Singer, the foetus is not a person because the marks of personhood include a complex
array of traits that are associated with an adult human, such as self-consciousness, memory,
hope and desire, which the foetus lacks. Therefore, the sanctity of life argument does not
work, and there is nothing to stop the second premise of the sanctity of life argument
against abortion. Therefore, there is no reason to suppose that abortion or the destruction
of embryos is morally impermissible.
‘My suggestion, then, is that we accord the life of a foetus no greater value than the
life of a nonhuman animal at a similar level of rationality, self-consciousness,
awareness, capacity to feel etc. Since no foetus is a person, no foetus has the same
claim to life as a person’ - Singer
EMBRYO RESEARCH
Embryo Research: Any research which uses embryos to further scientific or medical
knowledge (ie. To understand hereditary diseases or improve fertility treatments).
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