What is the destruction of an embryo like? Cutting off a toenail? Using the morning-after pill? Disposing of medical waste (removed tumours and amputated limbs)? Murdering a baby? Get ready to justify your answers!

The Status of the Embryo Homework check – you should have read the sheet and filled in the spaces where there are questions. Compare and discuss your answers on your table. Use a green pen to add/correct anything you missed.

Christian and Secular Views on the value of life Objectives: Understand the views of Christians, Singer, Glover and Thomson on the value of human life. Apply these views to issues of embryo research and abortion. Evaluate them.

Christian teachings on the value of life What relevant teachings do you already know? Sanctity of Life Human life has intrinsic value Genesis 1:27 Genesis 1:28 Psalm 139:13

Christian teachings on the value of life As ever in Christianity, there is another view - Quality of life Human life has instrumental value John 10:10 John 3:16

Secular Views 1. Peter Singer Sanctity of Life view is speciesist Embryo is not a person – acorn is not an oak tree Embryo in vitro is not a potential person Sentience most importance – utilitarian pleasure/pain

Secular Views 2. Jonathan Glover Rejects Sanctity of Life Wrongness of killing people based on value to person of being alive “Life is only of value as a vehicle of consciousness”

Application What would Singer and Glover say about embryo research? Explain why. What would different Christians say about embryo research? Explain why.

So… This gives them opposing views on issues like embryo research, PGD and abortion. Most secular scholars say it is not. Most Christians say the embryo is a person. But one scholar has another way of looking at it…

The Classic Right-to-Life Argument (against abortion) The Usual Response (for abortion) All people have a right to life Embryos are people Therefore embryos have a right to life, so we can’t kill them All people have a right to life Embryos are NOT people Therefore embryos DO NOT have a right to life, so we can kill them

The Classic Right-to-Life Argument (against abortion) Judith Jarvis Thomson’s Response (for abortion) All people have a right to life Embryos are people Therefore embryos have a right to life, so we can’t kill them All people have a right to life Embryos are people Therefore embryos have a right to life HOWEVER, just because something has a right to life doesn’t mean we can’t ever kill it

“Let me ask you to imagine this “Let me ask you to imagine this. You wake up in the morning and find yourself back to back in bed with an unconscious violinist. A famous unconscious violinist. He has been found to have a fatal kidney ailment, and the Society of Music Lovers has canvassed all the available medical records and found that you alone have the right blood type to help. They have therefore kidnapped you, and last night the violinist’s circulatory system was plugged into yours, so that your kidneys can be used to extract poisons from his blood as well as your own. The director of the hospital now tells you, ‘Look, we’re sorry the Society of Music Lovers did this to you- we would never have permitted it if we had known. But still, they did it, and the violinist now is plugged into you. To unplug you would be to kill him. But never mind, it’s only for nine months. By then he will have recovered from his ailment, can safely be unplugged from you.’” The violinist is a person who has a right to life, so does that mean that you have to stay plugged into them? Is this story a good analogy for pregnancy and abortion? Why/ why not?

“Suppose it were like this: people-seeds drift about in the air like pollen, and if you open your windows, one may drift in and take root in your carpets and upholstery. You don’t want children, so you fix up your windows with fine mesh screens, the very best you can buy. As can happen, however, and on very, very rare occasions does happen, one of the screens is defective; and a seed drifts in and takes root… …Nobody is morally required to make large sacrifices, of health, of all other interests and concerns, of all other duties and commitments, for nine years, or even just nine months, in order to keep another person alive.” Explain the people-seeds analogy Is Thomson’s argument convincing? Why/ why not?

The Beginning of Life – what do you think? When does human life begin? Is a human life a person? Is it wrong to kill human persons? Is there a moral difference between embryo destruction, abortion and murder?

Homework Strengths and weaknesses of Christian and secular views (fill in the sheet)

Christian and Secular Views on the value of life Objectives: Understand the views of Christians, Singer, Glover and Thomson on the value of human life. Apply these views to issues of embryo research and abortion. Evaluate them.