The human embryo. Person or Object? Philosophical-legal perspective

Abstract

The Assisted Human Reproduction Techniques are an achievement for humanity for the solution to family situations related to fertilization; important ethical, philosophical and legal aspects emerge from its use to be analyzed. Several techniques have been developed such as artificial reproduction, cloning and in vitro reproduction, the latter to be carried out requires the union of the ovum and sperm outside the mother's womb, preserving the embryos obtained through cryogenesis. There is no agreement in the laws of the countries regarding the period of time that embryos must be kept frozen. The problem from the philosophical point of view consists in determining whether embryos can be considered as persons or as objects with special legal protection. The investigation was of an exploratory documentary type. The main conclusions were based on the fact that the human embryo from the philosophical point of view and according to the different trends analyzed cannot be considered a person, but must be considered an object with special protection since it is an entity that can become a person and for this reason its legal protection is needed, mainly during the cryogenesis period, guaranteeing an ethical and viable destination.