Conclusion
In summary, this paper addresses the inquiry regarding the personhood of the early human embryo mentioned earlier. This study argues that the early human embryo constitutes a human individual at the point of fertilization, as elucidated by four distinct sections. From an embryological perspective, I demonstrated that an early human embryo becomes a human person at the moment of conception. The early human embryo progresses through various stages of development, starting from the zygote and continuing to embryo and fetus. However, it is important to note that this does not imply that it attains personhood after multiple developmental stages. At the time of fertilization, the human embryo becomes an individual as it acquires a genetic code through the marriage of the mother’s cell (oocytes) and the father’s cell (sperm). The embryo possesses the capacity to engage in a distinct and autonomous developmental trajectory. In the second section, an examination is conducted on two distinct viewpoints regarding the embryo: the standard perspective, commonly referred to as the immediate human person, posits that the early embryo attains human personhood upon fertilization, and the developmental perspective, known as the delayed human person, contends that the early embryo does not attain human personhood until it meets specific criteria during certain stages of development. In this section, the developmental perspective also offers a critique of the conventional understanding of personhood, drawing upon the established criteria for determining personhood. The third section commences with three proposed responses to the criticism posed by proponents of the developmental view, highlighting the inadequacy of their critique. Finally, I express some challenges regarding the standard for determining personhood according to the developmental perspective. The assertion that the early human embryo possesses personhood at the point of conception is indisputable. Consequently, engaging in actions that undermine the dignity and human rights of the human embryo, which is considered a person, is ethically unacceptable.