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.