Cloning and Infertility

Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics 7 (3):279-293 (1998)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

Although there are important moral arguments against cloning human beings, it has been suggested that there might be exceptional cases in which cloning humans would be ethically permissible. One type of supposed exceptional case involves infertile couples who want to have children by cloning. This paper explores whether cloning would be ethically permissible in infertility cases and the separate question of whether we should have a policy allowing cloning in such cases. One caveat should be stated at the beginning, however. After the cloning of a sheep in Scotland, scientists pointed out that using the same technique to clone humans would, at present, involve substantial risks of producing children with birth defects. This concern over safety gives compelling support to the view that it would be wrong to attempt human cloning now. Thus, we do not reach the debate about exceptional cases unless the issue of safety can be set aside. I ask the reader to consider the possibility that in the future humans could be cloned without a significantly elevated risk of birth defects from the cloning process itself. The remainder of this paper assumes, for sake of argument, that cloning technology has advanced to that point. Given this assumption, would cloning in the infertility cases be ethically permissible, and should it be legally permitted?

Links

PhilArchive



    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 90,616

External links

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

Similar books and articles

Response to “Cloning and Infertility” by Carson Strong.Timothy F. Murphy - 1999 - Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics 8 (3):364-368.
A Clone by any Other Name.Katherin A. Rogers - 2007 - Journal of Philosophical Research 32 (9999):247-255.
A wolf in sheep’s cloning?Richard Hanley - 1999 - Monash Bioethics Review 18 (1):59-62.

Analytics

Added to PP
2010-08-24

Downloads
70 (#212,346)

6 months
4 (#319,344)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

References found in this work

No references found.

Add more references