My presentation for F. Sorrow's Therapeutic Reproduction and Human Dignity piece at The Human Body and the Market class at CEU, March 2013

1. THERAPEUTIC REPRODUCTION
AND HUMAN DIGNITY, F. SORROW
The Human Body and the Market
Shushan Harutyunyan
CEU, 2013

2. ADVANCES OF BIOTECHNOLOGY?!
What we think about the intersection of reproduction-assisting
technologies and the crisis in human organ donation?
What’s the line between ethically permissible and ethically
impermissible uses of reproductive technology?
`
How we think of dichotomies between “reproductive” and “therapy”?
What about the “family” VS “state” that permit the distinctions of what
is good and what is bad about reproductive technology?

3. WHO WE ARE AS INDIVIDUALS AND WHO WE ARE AS SPECIES?
 “Savior sibling” as an act of love and  Reproductive cloning as an affront to
responsible parenting (assumptions about human dignity (human clones luck in
parental motives and devotion questionable) connection to two genetic parents )

4. Pro’s Concerns
 If parents have the authority to “volunteer”  Creating a child to donate non-generating
an existing child as a bone morrow donor organs is unacceptable “in view of the risks
for a sibling, it is also acceptable that they involved for the donor child”.
create a child as a bone morrow for a
sibling”.  Savior siblings would not enjoy “full respect
for their personal uniqueness and dignity”.
 Psychological benefits the donor receives  “We should be reluctant to see ourselves as
from helping the sick sibling, benefits that people who may appropriately dictate such a
crustal part of the identity of our child (least
range from contributing to the family we turn human reproduction) into a form of
stability and survival to the boost in self- manufacture and open the door to a new
esteem gained from having a power to heal eugenics.
that other luck.
 We should consider whether assigning the
role of savor to a child as a condition for its
existence is an appropriate exercise of human
reproduction potential.

5. THE HUMAN DIGNITY AND NEW TECHNOLOGIES (CLONING)
 Problems with Cloning and Embryonic Stem Cells (The justification put
forward for destructive/experimental cloning is that by destroying cloned
embryos we will obtain embryonic stem cells for use in treating those with
conditions such as Parkinson's).
 Our Life-Affirming Position (We welcome the development of ethically
acceptable treatments for conditions such as Parkinson’s, and are greatly
encouraged by research on adult stem cells, which can be extracted without
killing anyone, have already produced successful treatments for a range of
conditions, and have none of the potential tumour-forming problems that are
inherent to embryonic stem cells).
 The Law on Cloning (Therapeutic cloning is governed by the Human
Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990. The Act was amended by Parliament
in January 2001 to include cloning research. In the UK, researchers are
allowed to use eggs left over from IVF treatment programmes to create cloned
human embryos for embryonic stem cell research. They do this using
reproductive cloning techniques. The UK permits this provided the embryo is
not allowed to develop for longer than 14 days.

6. HUMAN DIGNITY IN SCIENCE / POLICY DEBATES
 “Practices which are contrary to human dignity, such as
reproductive cloning of human beings, shall not be permitted.
States and competent international organizations are invited to
co-operate in identifying such practices and in taking, at
national or international level, the measures necessary to
ensure that the principles set out in this Declaration are
respected.” Human Dignity, UNESCO Universal Declaration
on the Human Genome and Human Rights which state in article
11
 BUT Dignity of the Individual or of Society?! It is frequently
argued, for instance, that reproduction should occur by chance
and through natural selection. This argument may be based
upon religious lines, which defer to a supernatural or higher
power for choice, or to natural selection and the importance of
ensuring continued human diversity. More convincing for some
are arguments against
 the commoditisation of life.

7. THE VIRTUE OF BEING HUMAN? HUMAN DIGNITY IN POLICY DEBATES
 Human dignity becomes more questionable when it is used as a form of general
condemnation for two principal reasons: one concerning regulatory effectiveness
and the other regulatory legitimacy.
 The most modern societies are pluralistic, and accordingly, consensus is difficult to
obtain, whether about human dignity or other complex social and ethical issues
introduced by scientific innovations. There is not even agreement about the
foundation of human dignity- whether it is faith-based or secular- let alone what
human dignity entails.
 Concerns about the uses for dignity are magnified when dignity is used as the
justification for a State’s use of its coercive criminal law powers to prohibit particular
avenues of scientific inquiry. This is the most extreme collision between the
autonomy of individuals engaged in scientific inquiry, either as researchers or
participants and freedom from the coercive power of the state based on a
constraining vision of human dignity.

8. SO HOW WE GOING TO LIVE WITH “THIS”?
 Rethinking human?!
 Get use to?!
 Reframing the bodily self not to be
the actual reference for identifying
the present time??
 Rethinking of what we exactly count
as life?!

9. SOURCES
 Human Rights and Human Dignity An Appeal to Separate theConjoined
Twins, Schroeder, 2012 http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10677-011-9326-3
 Human Dignity: In danger of Banality? (The case ofcloning), Knoppers, Bartha-
Maria http://ehis.ebscohost.com/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=3889bbe6-e531-4f5e-8007-
287aa012183c%40sessionmgr11&vid=2&hid=116
 When Human Dignity is not Enough: Embryonic Stem CellResearch and Human Cloning in Canada - Tania
Bubela and Timothy Caulfield;
UBCPress http://francestanford.stanford.edu/sites/francestanford.stanford.edu/files/Bubela.pdf
 Section 2 (Ethics and Cloning, Human dignity) at “Is HumanReproductive Cloning Inevitable: Future Options for
UN Governance” Report, ChamundeeswariKuppuswamy, Darryl Macer, Mihaela Serbulea and Brendan
Tobin, 2007 http://www.ias.unu.edu/resource_centre/Cloning_9.20B.pdf
 Human Dignity and Human Rights as a Common Ground for aGlobal Bioethics, Journal of Medicine and
Philosophy, 2009http://www.academia.edu/457873/Human_Dignity_and_Human_Rights_As_a_Common_Groun
d_for_a_Global_Bioethics
 Human Cloning and Human Dignity: The Report of thePresident's Council on
Bioethics http://ehis.ebscohost.com/eds/detail?sid=aabeb1dd-39c4-4bd5-8c74-
bb793ecf8929%40sessionmgr11&vid=1&hid=15&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpdmU%3d#db=edsjag&AN=edsja
g.10.2307.3528433
 Human cloning: Category, dignity, and the role
ofbioethics, Shuster http://ehis.ebscohost.com/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=62afc08e-abc9-4dad-81b9-
bae587d70dcb%40sessionmgr11&vid=2&hid=116

10. THANK YOU