Creating Humans

Human reproduction is about life and its perpetuation. If there is anything that we have to take seriously from the moral point of view, then surely that is human life. We value life because it is all that we have which is our own. We construct elaborate systems of belief about it; we guard it through rules we have devised for it; it is everything to us. How we begin human life, how we bring it into existence is a matter of the most profound importance. In this course, we will discuss the various moral aspects of human reproduction from methods of conception to methods of ending a pregnancy. We will discuss the moral, cultural, legal, and political influences on reproduction as well as the scientific advances in reproductive technology. Hopefully at the end of this course we will not have arrived at answers to the various questions raised, but will have provided a base for us to consider the issues at hand and a desire to pursue more study in the important aspects of creating humans.