ABSTRACT
The status of the embryo is highly contested, and little agreement exists among medical scientists, religious leaders, feminists, right-to-life advocates, lawyers, philosophers, and policymakers on the moral significance of fertilization. The legality of embryo experimentation varies enormously in some countries, for example, Germany, legislation completely bans embryo research. In the United States, the disbanding of the Ethics Advisory Board has meant that there is no federal funding for embryo research. The existence of human embryos in laboratories and their storage by freezing have stimulated widespread calls for the regulation of medical scientists' experimental activities and for the law to accord some respect or protection to embryos. One of the first attempts to criminalize embryo experimentation occurred in Australia with the introduction in 1985 of a private member's bill in the Senate of the Commonwealth Parliament. Medical scientists can easily create excess embryos, and disproving their initial intention to implant those embryos would be very difficult.
