[The status of the human embryo from a gradualistic perspective]

Bioethics debates topics regarding the beginning and ending of human life. The beginning of human life includes when a human embryo reaches full human status. There are multiple and interesting issues surrounding human embryo status. These include assisted reproduction, seeking and management of human gametes and embryos at specialized laboratories, embryonic and stem cell research, emergency contraception, voluntary interruption of pregnancy, etc. They are based on implicit or explicit philosophical concepts. Philosophical positions about human embryo status could be summarized in two postures: personalism and gradualism. Personalism considers that human embryos reach the status of persons from the moment of fertilization. On the other hand, gradualism considers human embryos become persons at a later time after fertilization. The present work discusses the definitions of "status" and "embryo", summarizes criteria to consider a human being as a person, presents gradualism as an alternate posture to personalism, and finally emphasizes Alonso Bedate's gradualist position about human embryo status, suggesting that gradualism has its metaphysical foundation in modern biology.