Frozen human embryos 'not life forms': S.Korean court

May 28 03:34 AM US/Eastern

S.Korea's Constitutional Court has ruled that human embryos left over from ...

South Korea's Constitutional Court has ruled that human embryos left over from fertility treatment are not life forms and can be used for research or destroyed,a court spokesman said Friday.

   In its ruling Thursday the court upheld an existing law allowing the use of  
   leftover embryos for research. The law also allows fertility clinics to dispose of
   frozen embryos five years after fertilisation treatment is completed.
   "The ruling means that human embryos that are in their early stage and are not  
   implanted into a mother's womb cannot be seen as human life forms," the  
   spokesman, Noh Hui-Beom, told AFP.

   The ruling came after a group of 13 people including pro-life activists filed a  
   petition with the court against the current bioethics law, which allows the use of leftover embryos for research.

Following the ruling, shares related to stem-cell research surged on the local market.

It's 1:30 am in Bristol, UK!

And I'm finishing my last paper of the semester...!  oh.my.gosh.

Naturally (no pun intended)  it's about developing an ethical framework for the use of reproductive technology. wooooo. 

And, as I delve into the bloody muddy waters of birth control, roe v wade, rights, creation theology, products, results, in-vitro fertilization (IVF), third party donations, etc, etc, I note with trepidation and an eerie sense of nearness that...

* the adorable, lovely lovely home i am staying in belongs to the gracious and wonderful recipients of an IVF baby who they had made created helped participate in forming and are now raising gratefully and lovingly after years and years of infertility.  

* the first IVF procedure that ever took place was in...lo and behold Bristol, UK.  Right down the road.

* i am probably psychotic and love conspiracy theories.  so i can't tell if any of my thoughts about the booming pharmaceutical/reproductive technology industry  "fueled chiefly by what would induce a woman to keep a prescription, and only if necessary by what was ethically, emotionally, spiritually, or even physically best for the woman" have any basis whatsoever.  

*  who cares, i am so tired. of.  papers.  wrote.  32 pages, at least, last week.  going.  insane.  samm. going. to never let me have babies anyway at this rate because grad school is going to make him run away forever.  

baaaack to that paper.