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Despite the unquestionable gains that embryonic stem cell research has brought and may continue to bring to medicine, I believe the ethics and morality of stem cell research is questionable. Embryonic stem cells are taken from a human embryo, which is “the developing organism from the time of fertilization” (conception) “until the end of the eighth week of gestation, when it becomes known as a fetus” (National Institutes of Health). These embryos are fertilized in an in vitro fertilization clinic, and their stem cells are extracted from their inner cell mass of the blastocyst after three to four days. They must be extracted because after five days of the embryonic cell’s development, these undifferentiated stem cells no longer exist. In the process of extracting these cells from the infer mass of the blastocyst, the human embryo is destroyed. Since human life begins at the moment of conception (when sperm fertilizes an egg), the destruction of the human embryo is the destruction of a human being. Killing a human being and disregarding the irrevocable value of human life is morally wrong; therefore, embryonic stem cell research is not morally acceptable. I will be arguing this point throughout the paper, taking into consideration counterarguments and building upon others that are also against embryonic stem cell research.

Harvard University political philosopher and professor Michael J. Sandel highlights the ethical arguments concerning embryonic stem cell research in his article “Embryo Ethics – The Moral Logic of Stem-Cell Research”. He mainly addresses the argument that some individuals hold that “despite its worthy ends, stem cell research is wrong because it involves the destruction of human embryos.” Although Sandel sta...

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...ceptable, who believe it is not acceptable, and who question the personhood, life, and value of an embryo. Although there is no concise decision about the morality of stem cell research, that does not excuse it. Every human being, whether an embryo, a fetus, a newborn, five year old child, or adult, has an undeniable intrinsic value regardless of what individuals like Sandel and Glick say. This value of human life should not be intentionally destroyed by any means, or else it is immoral. Within embryonic stem cell research, a human life is being destroyed and devalued. Although these stem cells are being used to find cures and therapies for diseases and aid the medical world, these ends do not justify the means. Instead of spending time and money on an immoral act research should be done on adult stem cells since human life is not interrupted or destroyed this way.