A fetish for zygotes

I have always found the conservative fetish with zygotes and single cell 'human' life  potty. Obviously everyone has a right to express potty opinions. The problem is that some people expect the State to impose their potty opinions, thus ruining the happiness and wellbeing of others.

I tend to subscribe to the philosophical tradition according to which the developing fetus does not attain full human status, until after a certain point in the process of development. I cannot but feel a greater respect for the life of an adult chimp, or for the sake of argument any living form which experiences some form of awareness, than towards a zygote or a frozen embryo's cell which feels nothing and knows nothing.

Don’t get me wrong. I am still an anthropocentric carnivore who has enjoyed the taste of foie gras without any qualms of conscience. I also believe in the sanctity of human life to the extent that I would never vote for any Maltese politician who connives in sending fully grown human beings back to Libya, a country which has not signed the Geneva convention.

I would even consider extending the right to life to the great apes (as the Spanish parliament did a couple of years ago)  who show far greater signs of personality and humanity than any zygote or frozen cell.

My inner logic tells me that human life starts some time before birth, but surely not the entire nine months. I therefore cannot but approve the freezing of cells if this lowers the risk of multiple pregnancies caused by the implantation of multiple embryos in a woman’s uterus, and if this reduces the pain caused to the woman by hormone treatment. So I applaud the decision of parliament's select committee to give its go-ahead for the freezing of zygotes.

I would also approve the use of these frozen cells for stem cell research to contribute to the saving of adult human life, something which is too controversial to be even contemplated in Malta.

And I also believe that humans should have the right to sign a living will to enable their relatives to pull the plug in case they fall into vegetative state. Using pro-life arguments to impose life on the already dead is the ultimate absurdity. 

In the name of a conservative fetish, in Italy conservatives and hypocrites did everything possible to keep Eluana Englaro forced-fed by machines from 1992 to 2009, despite her fathers' heroic battle to respect her dignity.  People of the same ilk here in Malta seem to show no concern for the health of women who resort to fertility treatments.