On Abandoned Embryos

Collins, Timothy

doi:10.1179/002436308803889747

Cited by 4 publications

(2 citation statements)

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“…Legally, only 2% of frozen embryos are specifically designated for donation/adoption and 5% are specifically designated for destruction or research. 6 The legal issues focus on the applicability of contract law versus family law because frozen embryos are technically considered "property" not "persons." Presently, the applicability of contract law or family law remains unclear.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Frozen Embryos: Application of the Extraordinary/Ordinary Means Distinction from the Catholic Perspective

Clark¹

2010

IJGO

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The history of the Catholic Church's position on the ordinary-extraordinary means distinction dates back to the 16 th century Dominican moralists. The tradition holds that an ordinary means of preserving life would be all medicines, treatments, and operations, which offer a reasonable hope of benefit for the patient and which can be obtained and used without excessive expense, pain, or other inconvenience. An extraordinary means would be all medicines, treatments, and operations, which cannot be obtained or used without excessive expense, pain, or other inconvenience, or which, if used, would not offer a reasonable hope of benefit. The distinctive element of the tradition is that it is a patient-centered, quality-of-life approach which is consistent with how the 16 th-century-Dominican moralists viewed this distinction. Therefore, a person is not morally obligated to use any means, and this would include natural or artificial means, that does not offer a reasonable hope of ameliorating the patient's condition. The ethical issue is whether this distinction can be applied to the issue of "frozen embryos." As a result of invitro fertilization it has been estimated that there are 500,000 spare embryos frozen with an additional 20,000 embryos added yearly. The issue is now what to do with the 500,000 frozen embryos that remain as "spares." Various alternatives have been suggested. The embryos could be thawed and then destroyed, continued to be cryopreserved indefinitely, used for embryonic stem cell research, or offered for donation/adoption. From the Catholic perspective, because these embryos are considered "human persons" it appears that the only viable ethical option would be to declare the process of cryopreservation an extraordinary means of life support, stop the process, allow the embryos to thaw and then to die naturally with dignity and respect.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Frozen Embryos: Application of the Extraordinary/Ordinary Means Distinction from the Catholic Perspective

Clark¹

2010

IJGO

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Legally, only 2% of frozen embryos are specifically designated for donation/adoption and 5% are specifically designated for destruction or research. 6 The legal issues focus on the applicability of contract law versus family law because frozen embryos are technically considered "property" not 34 "persons." Presently, the applicability of contract law or family law remains unclear.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cryopreserved Embryos: A Catholic Alternative to Embryonic Stem Cell Research and Adoption

Clark¹

2011

Embryonic Stem Cells - Basic Biology to Bioengineering

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Who Is My Mother and Who Are My Brothers?

Sutton

2015

Christian Bioethics

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On Abandoned Embryos

Abstract: At this time, the Catholic Church has made no definitive statement regarding the morality of adopting abandoned embryos. Is it intrinsically evil for a woman to elect to become pregnant, outside of the marital act and with someone else's child?

Cited by 4 publications

References 5 publications

Frozen Embryos: Application of the Extraordinary/Ordinary Means Distinction from the Catholic Perspective

Frozen Embryos: Application of the Extraordinary/Ordinary Means Distinction from the Catholic Perspective

Cryopreserved Embryos: A Catholic Alternative to Embryonic Stem Cell Research and Adoption

Who Is My Mother and Who Are My Brothers?

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