finals m5

• Moral issue


  A case problem, situation, or subject matter that demands a moral decision. It involves the rightness and wrongness of an action.
• Reflective Thinking


  Moral deliberation over the reasons for and against a moral issue before one arrives at a decision. It involves a deliberative balancing and weighing of diverse reasons to support one's moral action.
• Moral Decision


  The final judgment, verdict, conclusion, or action that is taken which is based on and substantiated by the justifying reasons and evidence given to a moral issue under deliberation.
• Elements of Moral Issue

  • Involves moral reasoning
  • One's justifying reasons are believed to be universally valid
  • It presents a moral dilemma
• Abortion


  The expulsion of a living fetus from the mother's womb before it is viable.
• Article II Section 12 of the 1986 Philippine Constitution provides that, "The state recognizes the sanctity of life and should protect and strengthen the family as a basic autonomous social institution. It shall equally protect the life of the mother and the life of the unborn from conception."
• Different Types of Abortion

  • Natural or Spontaneous or Accidental
  • Direct or Intentional
  • Therapeutic
  • Eugenic
  • Indirect Abortion
• Beginning of Life


  When does life begin? When does the human soul fuse or unite with the body?
• Schools of Thought Related to the Beginning of Life

  • Theory of Immediate Hominization
  • Theory of Delayed Animation
• Theory of Immediate Hominization


  A new human exists immediately upon conception
• Theory of Delayed Animation

  Ensoulment occurs at a later time but not from the moment of conception. Ensoulment is the fusion of the spiritual soul into the embryo, also known as animation. It occurs when the matter (body) is sufficiently organized to sustain the intellectual principle or the so-called substantial form of a man.
• Stages of Delayed Animation

  • Implantation (6 to 7 days after conception)
  • Unity and Uniqueness (2 to 4 weeks after conception)
  • "Looks" Human (5th and 6th week of fetal development)
  • Electrical Activity (When electrical impulses or activities are first detectable from the brain around the 8th week of pregnancy)
  • Quickening (When the mother can feel the spontaneous movements of the fetus during the 10th to 12th week of pregnancy)
  • Viability (During the 28th week or 7th month of pregnancy)
  • Birth (Ensoulment occurs at birth when the child becomes biologically independent of his mother)
• General Viewpoints of Abortion

  • Conservative (Abortion is never permissible or at most permissible ONLY if it is required to save the pregnant woman's life)
  • Liberal (Abortion is always permissible; the fetus is neither an individual, human nor person; no rights nor moral status; disposable especially in cases of rape and incest)
  • Moderate (Abortion is morally permissible up to a certain stage of fetal development)
• Reasons for Moderate Viewpoint on Abortion

  • Social Reasons (Population control, Alleviates economic, sociological problems, Anticipates social costs involved in the care, support and education of the handicapped)
  • Fetal Reasons (Prevents the birth of terrible malformed or defective children, Child deformity will cause family to incur staggering financial and psychological costs, Prevents postnatal elimination of unwanted gender)
• Present Positions about Abortion

  • Pro-Life (Alternative remedies in case of rape and incest: psychological, religious, and social help; preparation for adoption)
  • Pro-Choice (Justification for the expulsion of the fetus may be personal, social, and fetal, or personal)
• Effects of Abortion


  • Physical Effects (Habitual miscarriages, ectopic pregnancies, bleeding, shock, coma, perforated uterus, stillbirth, menstrual disturbances)
  • Psychological Effects (Guilt, suicidal tendencies, lower self-esteem, loss of confidence, anger, nightmares, intense interest in babies)
• Human Fertilization


  Human life begins when the human egg is fertilized by sperm or otherwise stimulated to cause cell division to begin
• Bioethical Issues Pertaining to Human Fertilization

  • Genetic Engineering
  • In Vitro Fertilization
  • Cloning
  • Stem Cell
• Genetic Engineering


  Involves the whole process of altering genes, the building blocks of life in order to achieve, either radically or a completely new human being. It includes genetic testing prenatal diagnosis, genetic screening, IVF, cloning, sperm and zygote banking, sex selection, organic transplant.
• According to the National Human Genome Research Institute (2020) Bioethicists and researchers generally believe that human genome editing for reproductive purposes should not be attempted at this time, but that studies that would make gene therapy safe and effective should continue.
• Most stakeholders agree that it is important to have continuing public deliberation and debate to allow the public to decide whether or not germline editing should be permissible. As of 2014, there were about 40 countries that discouraged or banned research on germline editing, including 15 nations in Western Europe, because of ethical and safety concerns. There is also an international effort led by the US, UK, and China to harmonize regulation of the application of genome editing technologies.
• In Vitro Fertilization (IVF)


  Conception outside the womb by artificial means. It is commonly referred to as test-tube fertilization or test-tube babies. It is a method of assisted reproduction in which a man's sperm and a woman's eggs are combined outside of the body in a laboratory dish. One or more fertilized eggs (embryos) may be transferred to the woman's uterus, where they may implant in the uterine lining and develop. Excess embryos may be cryopreserved (frozen) for future use.
• Ethical Considerations for IVF

  • The relationship of the physician and the infertile couple to the pre-embryo
  • The relationship of the physician to the infertile couple and the affected offspring
  • The relationship of the infertile couple to the expected offspring
  • The relationship of the physician and the infertile couple to the general community
• Cloning


  A technique scientists use to make exact genetic copies of living things. Genes, cells, tissues, and even whole animals can all be cloned.
• Can a human individual be cloned? The correct answer is, strictly speaking, no. What is cloned are the genes, not the individual; the genotype, not the phenotype. The technical obstacles are immense even for cloning a human's genotype. Human cloning may refer to "therapeutic cloning," particularly the cloning of embryonic cells to obtain organs for transplantation or for treating injured nerve cells.
• Cloning genes


  1. Take DNA from a living creature

  2. Insert it into a carrier like bacteria or yeast

  3. Every time the carrier reproduces, a new copy of the gene is made
• Clones


  • Can be used to turn an embryo into a stem cell factory
  • Stem cells can grow into many different types of cells and tissues
  • Scientists can turn them into nerve cells to fix a damaged spinal cord or insulin-making cells to treat diabetes
• Cloning a human individual is not possible, only the genotype can be cloned, not the phenotype
• Human cloning may refer to "therapeutic cloning" to obtain organs for transplantation or treat injured nerve cells
• Human cloning more typically refers to "reproductive cloning" using somatic cell nuclear transfer
• Even if a person's genes could be cloned, the individual cannot be cloned as character, personality and other features are not determined by genotype alone
• Stem cells


  • They are the body's "master cells" that can develop into blood, brain, bones, and all of the body's organs
  • They have the potential to repair, restore, replace, and regenerate cells, and could possibly be used to treat many medical conditions and diseases
• Important ethical issues related to stem cell research include informed consent of donors and recipients, commercialization, justice, and responsible conduct of research
• Natural death


  Death by action of natural causes without the aid or inducement of any intervening instrumentality
• Brain death


  The cessation of all functions of the whole brain
• The medical community has determined that an individual may be declared dead if brain death has occurred
• An individual whose brain stem (lower brain) has died is not able to maintain the vegetative functions of life, including respiration, circulation, and swallowing
• The case of Nancy Cruzan, who was in a persistent vegetative state, led to a court ruling that allowed her parents to authorize the removal of her medical support
• Advance directive


  A document, prepared in advance of incompetence, which gives patients some control over their health care after they have lost the ability to make decisions owing to a medical condition
• Proxy directive


  The appointment of a proxy, or substitute, who will make difficult choices regarding medical care with the patient's earlier directions in mind