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Ectogenesis Essay Question

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Ectogenesis raises questions about the de nition of liability and at the point at which an embryo or fetus becomes endowed with the legal rights of a person (Schultz, 2010). This is why it may well be the case that the government will have to re-examine the legal status of the human embryo. Many of the case that have generated legal rules on the status of unborn children have originated in the context of the abortion debate (Er, 1979) but this di ers from the situation of laboratory-generated in vitro embryos that have an independent physical existence (Alghrani, 2007).
States disagree on whether viability is required for a claim of wrongful death, indeed under a wrongful death statute, a fetus in an arti cial womb could either be: (a) a "person" …show more content…

Complete ectogenesis will raise many complex legal questions:
1. What if a couple decide to have a child via ectogenesis only for couple to later change their mind and decide they want the child terminated?
In England, if the Abortion Act 1967 -as emended by Human Fertilisation and Embriology Act 1990- was extended to ectogenesis this would mean that couples could request the ectogenetic chamber be switched o if the time the foetus has been in the ectogenetic chamber has not exceeded its twenty-fourth week, and that the continuance of the ectogenetic gestation would involve risk of injury to the mental health of the progenitors (to the father as much as the mother) or any existing child of their family, greater than if the ectogenetic gestation were terminated (Alghrani, 2007).
2. What if the couple subsequently separate and both dispute what the fate of the embryo should be?
In the absence of prior agreement, courts are advised to balance the relative interests of the parties. When those interests are in equipoise, courts are advised to favour the party wishing to avoid procreation, as long as

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