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Bioethics and the Fetus pp 145–170Cite as

The Embryo as Patient

New Techniques, New Dilemmas

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Part of the book series: Biomedical Ethics Reviews ((BER))

Abstract

In the few years since Joyce Carol Oates described conception as “shrouded in mystery,” advances in reproductive technologies have further eroded the aura of the unknown in conception. Human eggs are fertilized in the laboratory, stored as embryos in glass straws in freezing tanks, and subjected to various therapeutic and nontherapeutic manipulations. As studies on embryos increase in frequency and variety, and as they move from the laboratory to the physician’s office, they give new urgency to the need to promote an ethical debate about the benefits of embryo micromanipulation for couples, embryos, and society at large. This chapter reviews emerging techniques in embryo micromanipulation and identifies ethical issues that must be addressed before the techniques are systematically offered in medical clinics.

“Conception (in contrast to the fully public fact of birth) suggests not only the unknowable but the forbidden: our birth dates are matters of public record but our dates of conception are permanently shrouded in mystery.”1

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Notes and References

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Bonnicksen, A.L. (1991). The Embryo as Patient. In: Humber, J.M., Almeder, R.F. (eds) Bioethics and the Fetus. Biomedical Ethics Reviews. Humana Press, Totowa, NJ. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-59259-445-0_8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-59259-445-0_8

  • Publisher Name: Humana Press, Totowa, NJ

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4757-4609-9

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