Spare Parts

Today I reflect back on the issue of growing embryos simply to have a source of spares "just in case" something should go awry at a later date. A brief search points me to an article from an Australian newspaper that informs us that a law is working its way through the British political system that would allow for the creation of "spare" embryos for the purposes of harvesting stem cells for treatment of sick children. While the image of an ill child is hardly the poster for fairness and justice, neither perhaps, is the thought of the production of "potential children" simply to have spare parts in case something goes wrong. This, of course, leads us back to the debate over demarcation. If one believes that person-hood and the associated right to life is not achieved until a point biologically later than that at which the embryos are destroyed, this debate can largely be sidestepped. If however, one believes that life begins at conception, than the destruction of embryos is tantamount to murder, and the intentional production of life only to snuff it out before it has a chance to be born is even more morally repugnant than merely using existing stem cell lines. Unfortunately for the sake of my own ease, I've yet to reach my own conclusion about when I think life begins.