Questions of Life and Death: Christian Faith and Medical Invention: Christian Faith and Medical Intervention - Softcover

Is it ethical to manufacture designer babies or experiment on human embryos? Is abortion morally justifiable as well as legally acceptable? Do terminally ill people have the right to choose when to end their lives? Sinse the birth of the first baby through in vitro fertilization just over thirty years ago, scientific advances in this field have been startling. Developments associated with cloning, human-animal hybrids and pre-implantation genetic diagnosis - so disturbing for many people - raise a crucial question about the moral status of the very early embryo. And, just as much as arguements about the right to interfere with the beginning of human life, the debate about the individual's right to choose when to die also provokes strong emotional responses.

Richard Harries was Bishop of Oxford from 1987-2006. On his retirement he was made a Life Peer. A member of the H.F.E.A. he was a member of the Nuffield Council on Bioethics from 2002-8, and is an Honorary Fellow of The Academy of Medical Sciences and the Institute of Biology.