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Kinetic Measurement and Real Time Visualization of Somatic Reprogramming
Published on: July 30, 2016
The somatic integration definition of the beginning of life
1Senior Fellow, Wisconsin Institute for Public Policy and Service.
Abstract:
The somatic integration definition of life is familiar from the debate on the determination of death, with some bioethicists arguing that it supports brain death while others argue that some brain-dead bodies exhibit sufficient somatic integration for biological life. I argue that on either interpretation, the somatic integration definition of life implies that neither the preimplantation embryo nor the postimplantation embryo meet the somatic integration threshold condition for organismal human life. The earliest point at which a somatic integration determination of life could be made would be the beginning of the fetal stage, 9 weeks postfertilization. Bioethical implications are considered, specifically with respect to the moral status of the postimplantation embryo in embryo research and abortion.
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