Human dignity and the value of a human life

I am now home in Australia, after so many fantastic experiences and one hell of a dose of jet lag!!!! I have the song "It had to be you" (instrumental version) ringing in my ears after it was played during every take off and landing from London to Brisbane (6 times in total). I couldn't help thinking that if the plane did crash, with that song playing mockingly, I'd be thinking "Why did it have to be me"!!!!!!!!!

Flying on a plane reminds me of how we value life. This is a central argument against cloning of any form, especially of Embryonic Stem Cell production for therapeutic purposes. It is argued that each "life" is intrinsically valuable and should be respected. Therefore to create a life in order to then destroy it would be unethical and inappropriate. The laws in Australia reflect these principles. Any embryonic stem cells for research purposes must be obtained from unused embryos created by the process of IVF and with consent from the donors. 

For me, the argument again stems (no pun intended) from a value base where a "life" is defined as the cells that could potentially develop in to life, a "pro life" argument.  However, I don't feel as ethically challenged by this argument, because even at the blastocyst stage, where cells are harvested to create further stem cells, there is still only a chance of life, not a life itself. 

In my initial readings for this blog, I heard stories about organ factories (see the film Autopsy for a visual, however possibly the worst film I've ever seen) and the abuse of life for the purposes of medical research. But the reality of the science of how the organs and cells for research is very far removed from the images that an organ factory conjures up. I think its the fear of what these images entail and therefore the way that the science has been communicated and understood has fuelled this argument.

Next time, in the last on the series of arguments against cloning, I'll be looking at the argument of the welfare of the child that has been cloned. I'm now off to bed, hoping to sleep off the travel fatigue!!!!!