There is much heated debate around the protection of early embryos. The extent to which an embryo is worthy of protection must be considered against freedom of scientific research, the rights of patients, parents, and the future children. Scientists thus recommend initiating a societal debate in Germany and adapting the legal framework to the state of knowledge.
In Germany, the question of what legal protection embryos should be afforded has been highly controversial for many years. The question is inextricably linked to the ethical question regarding an embryo’s moral status. Those with the strictest views attribute full moral status to human embryos from the moment of egg cell fertilisation. According to this viewpoint, early human embryos are entitled to the same human dignity and right to life as human beings are after birth. More liberal views propose either a gradual increase of the embryo’s right to protection alongside its development or regard certain watershed moments in the embryo’s development as morally important or decisive.
“From an ethical standpoint we have to ask ourselves, which rights of protection does an embryo warrant in vitro?” (German only)
“There are different ethical positions when it comes to how in vitro embryos should be treated.” (German only)
Under a graduated approach to embryo protection, claims of protection must be considered against freedom of scientific research, gaining scientific knowledge, and the interests of parents or future patients. For a long time, such questions only concerned contraception, abortion, and birth complications. However, since the 1970s, the range of questions in this field has broadened significantly. Now they include modern reproductive medicine, in which new technological methods have been developed to aid those struggling with infertility to have a child or to promote the health of future children. The ethical debate is no longer limited to whether an embryo or foetus growing in a woman’s uterus has a right to the same protection as a human being after birth. Instead, it also concerns the appropriate way of treating a fertilised oocyte in a Petri dish. Not only is an embryo’s right to life at issue, but questions are also being asked about the means and motives for artificially creating human life and how to do this appropriately.
It is now a question of how a scientifically founded, constitutional and ethically acceptable response might look today; one which accommodates this plurality in questions of an embryo’s worthiness of protection on the one hand, and the protection of freedom of scientific research, the rights of potential adults, and the interests of future children and patients on the other. Considering these various perspectives, the National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina and the Union of the German Academies of Sciences and Humanities called for future embryo research to be made possible in accordance with international ethical standards in their joint statement “Re-evaluating the protection of in vitro embryos in Germany” from 2021.
“The state needs reasons to restrict fundamental rights to freedom.” (German only)
The statement also highlights an ethical issue: When a research field is rejected in Germany for ethical reasons, the results of foreign research groups can still be used. To a certain extent, this is not ethically consistent. In biomedicine, this currently applies to every IVF procedure, including pre-implantation genetic diagnostics permitted in Germany as of 2011, and the research on human embryonic stem cells. The latter is permitted in Germany under strict conditions but the generation of stem cells from embryos is prohibited, so they are imported from abroad.
“The Act for Protection of Embryos is inconsistent.” (German only)
The international scientific community is of the opinion that many important research questions can only be answered with the help of embryo research. At present, scientists working in Germany can only make limited contributions to answering these important questions because research using early human embryos is prohibited by the 1990 Act for Protection of Embryos (Embryonenschutzgesetz, ESchG). The Leopoldina and the Union of Academies call for a renewed discussion regarding the legitimacy of embryo research for outstanding research objectives in Germany. The academies’ view is that, in a pluralistic democracy, the most restrictive position should not be used as the benchmark for all legal regulations.
“In a democratic society with different ethical perspectives we search for political compromises.” (German only)
“Researchers from Germany lose their say in the international scientific community.” (German only)
In Germany, too, a large number of embryos created during reproductive treatment are not used because the intended parents do not wish to have any (more) children, for example. From the current figures in the German IVF Registry (Deutsches IVF-Register), it can be concluded that approximately 20,000 embryos were cryo-preserved and almost 10,000 embryos were thawed and transferred for the purpose of initiating a pregnancy in Germany in 2019. To date, “surplus embryos” can only be donated to other couples looking to have a child or they must be discarded. Couples do not currently have the third option of donating such embryos for research objectives of outstanding interest. Surveys in many countries show that, following their decision to not have any more children, the majority of parents would be prepared to donate embryos for research purposes. There is a similar trend in Germany.
“According to estimates, a few thousand surplus embryos have to be discarded.” (German only)
„Viele Paare ziehen die Möglichkeit vor, Embryonen der Forschung zu spenden.“ (German only)
In their statement, the Leopoldina and the Union of Academies support research on early surplus embryos, i.e. on such embryos that have been created in vitro for reproductive purposes and have no other use. The decision as to whether surplus embryos should be donated to research should be made by the couple they come from. With the help of an independent consultation in advance, couples would be able to make informed decisions.
“To make a decision, couples also need reliable information about the research objectives.” (German only)
Research should only be permitted for objectives of outstanding interest, where fundamental research is used to gain scientific knowledge and to expand medical knowledge. The outstanding nature of each research project could, for example, be verified by an ethics committee. This committee could also assess and allow the generation of human embryonic stem cells from surplus embryos for use towards research objectives of outstanding interest, say the scientific academies.
“A state permission procedure would also create transparency for society.” (German only)
The Leopoldina and the Union of Academies call for a new legal framework concerning the use of surplus embryos for research purposes. The new regulatory framework should also consider current and unfolding scientific developments, such as the creation of embryo-like structures or embryos artificially created in vitro from gametes.