Department of Philosophy, City University of New York - College of Staten Island, Staten Island, New York.
Bioethics. 2020 Mar;34(3):242-251. doi: 10.1111/bioe.12671. Epub 2019 Nov 26.
Some people (e.g., Drs. Paul and Susan Lim) and, with them, organizations (e.g., the National Embryo Donation Center) believe that, morally speaking, the death of a frozen human embryo is a very bad thing. With such people and organizations in mind, the question to be addressed here is as follows: if one believes that the death of a frozen embryo is a very bad thing, ought, morally speaking, one prevent the death of at least one frozen embryo via embryo adoption? By way of a three-premise argument, one of which is a moral principle first introduced by Peter Singer, my answer to this question is: at least some of those who believe this ought to. (Just who the "some" are is identified in the paper.) If this is correct, then, for said people, preventing the death of a frozen embryo via embryo adoption is not a morally neutral matter; it is, instead, a morally laden one. Specifically, their intentional refusal to prevent the death of a frozen embryo via embryo adoption is, at a minimum, morally criticizable and, arguably, morally forbidden. Either way, it is, to one extent or another, a moral failing.
一些人(例如 Paul 和 Susan Lim 医生)以及一些组织(例如国家胚胎捐赠中心)认为,从道德上讲,冷冻人类胚胎的死亡是一件非常糟糕的事情。考虑到这些人和组织,这里要解决的问题如下:如果有人认为冷冻胚胎的死亡是一件非常糟糕的事情,从道德上讲,是否应该通过胚胎收养来防止至少一个冷冻胚胎的死亡?通过 Peter Singer 首次提出的三个前提的论点,我的回答是:至少有一部分人应该这样做。(谁是“一些人”在论文中确定。)如果这是正确的,那么对于这些人来说,通过胚胎收养来防止冷冻胚胎的死亡并不是一个道德中立的问题;相反,这是一个充满道德色彩的问题。具体来说,他们故意拒绝通过胚胎收养来防止冷冻胚胎的死亡,至少在道德上是值得批评的,甚至可以说是被禁止的。无论哪种方式,在某种程度上,这都是一种道德缺陷。