Ten years after the Wamock Report: is the human neo-conceptus a person?

Abstract

This paper consists of two parts. The first one is an analytical discussion of embryogenesis. Arguments for using the term "pre-embryo" to refer to the earliest stages of nascent human life are examined and found wanting. lndeed, the term "pre-embryo" was coined in order to drive a conceptual wedge between the early product of conception and the post-fortnight (from conception) embryo and so justify choosing the 14-days lirnit (recommended by Wamock Report) for embryo research. The pre-embryo's upholders assert that the neoconceptus is not an individuai orgamsm and that there is a discontinuity in the development from a one-celi entity, a zygote, to a multicellular organism of some 14 days after fertilization. The author argues instead that once the zygote has been formed, there is a new organism, different from the two gametes taken separately, but the same as the fetus, the child and the adult into whom it develops, since there is no discontinuity in the process of embryogenesis from the zygote stage to the fetal stage and beyond. The second part of the paper examines the terms "person" and "human being". The suggestion, put forward by some authors, that the two terms have different denotations is rejected. lnstead, it is argued that the term person is applicable to the human being from the time of conception and that everything we know about embryogenesis points to immediate animation.