‘Where to draw the line?’ Mary Warnock, embryos and moral expertise

This chapter puts into perspective the sociopolitical context in which the Warnock committee in the UK was formed and the public division it was called to address, as well as key topics that informed the committee’s deliberations. The committee was unusual in broadening its membership to lay people, besides scientists and doctors; the author highlights Mary Warnock’s individual role in shaping bioethical thought in the UK, through her commitment to applied ethics, the need for external oversight, and her trajectory in civil service in previous committees. This resonated with the Conservative neoliberal approach at the time (led by Margaret Thatcher), which favored individual choice. Warnock understood that there was not a clear-cut scientific or philosophical answer to the committee’s task–i.e., when to ascribe an embryo moral status. Rather, she was committed to conceiving the committee’s role as providing policy recommendations and a compromise. Wilson portrays Mary Warnock as a product of the time, who knew how to refresh philosophy and ethics to a changing political landscape. In addition, the chapter contrasts the US’ forms of bioethics reasoning (which emphasized principle-based ethics and moral expertise) with the political and philosophical traditions in the UK, which gave attention to individual choice.