The Moral Status of Embryos 01 29 2015 Five arguments for why personhood begins at conception 1 embryos are members of the human species Embryos have the same moral status as every other member of the human species Shared experience 2 Embryos are identical with later person what makes any one of us identical over time o A person has specific DNA that makes them who they are that is different to everyone else in the world but is identical to their embryo Would you be identical to a perfect copy of yourself What property might you share with the embryo from which you develop 3 there is continuous development between embryo and persons 4 Embryos are potential persons an entity could become produce another entity o however several things need to happen first this may be somewhere in between likely and unlikely to happen An entity will if nothing happens develop into another entity What about sperm and egg o Unlike the fertilized egg sperm and egg only contribute to producing human subject o Does the fertilized egg have the potential to become a person 5 embryos have futures like ours claims 1 4 makes a claim about how the reasons we think it is wrong to kill are the same for persons are they are for embryos 01 29 2015 01 29 2015