Life in the Gray Zone

In chapter 4 of the book Making Sense of Life, Observatory Director Sheila Jasanoff reflects on the challenges that new entities created through biotechnology as ‘moral grey zones’ bring to democratic societies as filled with moral questions. Such biological objects include the cloning of Dolly the Sheep, “three-parent embryos,” human embryonic stem cells (hESCs), and spare embryos created for IVF purposes. She centers her analysis on how societies have addressed the question of what should be done with such spare embryos, focusing on key “bioconstitutional moments” in the UK, US, and Germany. Jasanoff highlights in her account that the UK achieved legal and social stability of the embryo by establishing a line via the 14-day rule. Thus, Mary Warnock’s ability to appeal to common sense to find common ground among differing views in British society, a process that was later legitimized and enshrined in law, has stood the test of time. In the US, questions about imposing limits for experimentation with embryos have been tackled with legal mechanisms, including case litigation, as well as presidential executive actions. These have revolved around whether the state should fund the creation of embryos that would be destroyed. Germany’s staunch postwar commitments to human dignity resulted in a ban on the production of embryos for purposes other than pregnancy. However, both the US and Germany have found ways to permit embryo research and derive benefits from it without state endorsement. Jasanoff concludes the chapter by remarking the stability that the UK achieved with the 14-day rule and reflecting on calls for its relaxation. In this sense, Warnock’s achievement was to find a compromise like the 14-day rule through authorized forms of deliberation, as questions of how to incorporate ambiguous entities are as much about science as they are about moral principles and law.