Ovum

There have not been many things which have taken up most of my mind in the past few years other than Genetics. Ever since I attended Dr. Lander’s lecture MIT 7.00x Introduction to Biology, I have been hooked onto the subject. He talked primarily about genetics as he is a geneticist, but attributed to other aspects of biology as well. He taught a college level course, and when I took it, I was still in high school, but regardless, I understood most of the genetic aspect of it. It feels that it is…

Among all the moral dilemmas in the world, one of the most prominent nowadays is abortion. Many people believe that a life is a life whereas others agree that it is a matter of decision. One of the major questions asked is whether a human fetus is classified as a living entity. A human being is scientifically thought as an organism that can sustain life on its own, outside of the womb. When debate of whether abortion is permissible, factors such as the definition of being human, sustainability…

Neglecting to establish what makes it a person and the step from there to the impermissibility of abortion. “ Newly Fertilized ovum, a newly implanted clump of cells, is no more a person than an acorn is an oak tree…” . For the sake of the paper, Thomson agrees to acknowledge that drawing a line in which determining a fetus becomes a human is a dim and most likely will stay at…

Sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), pertain to a group of diseases that are transmitted predominantly through unprotected sexual contacts. Besides intercourse, STDs are transmissible through contacts with infected areas, contaminated objects, or from pregnant women to the fetus. Sometimes people infected with STDs do not show symptoms, therefore, is unknown if sexual partners are infected. The causes of STDs are the infections with bacteria, viruses, fungi, mycoplasmas, and parasites whose…

Beverly Harrison, a professor of Christian Ethics. Harrison defends women’s rights to their own bodies, stating that abortion could be considered not only “morally justifiable,” but “a moral good, because it is not rational to treat a newly fertilized ovum as though it had the same value as an existent, pregnant, female person.“ She goes on to say, “Enforced pregnancy would be viewed as a morally reprehensible violation of bodily integrity if women were recognized as fully human moral agents.”…

What is Fertility? Webster defines fertility as a couple’s natural ability to produce offspring. Every human being has the natural ability to reproduce (which is part of our body’s reproductive system). Fertility should not to be confused with fecundity. Fecundity is all about the actual ability of an individual to reproduce. Someone who lacks fertility is infertile; someone who lacks fecundity is sterile. The most important task anyone who wishes to get pregnant should know is fertility. Women…

Abortion has been one of the main topics in America to produce a plethora of controversy, marking the collision of two values: pro-life and pro-choice. While we know that each side produces a wide variety of points as to why each group believes what they do, we still must be omniscient about the life of the child. Someone who is pro-choice would argue that the woman has the right to her own body and what happens to it; however, taking the side of pro-choice disregards the child’s life. This…

This genetic defect occurs on the X chromosome, a sex chromosome, making it an X-linked disorder. During fertilization, a daughter will receive an X chromosome from her mother and an X chromosome from her father (XX). In the fertilization of an ovum that will become a male, however, the zygote will have received an X chromosome from his mother and a Y chromosome from his father (XY). Knowing this allows scientists to understand that a child can only inherit hemophilia from his mother because…

Designer babies are believed to be the future of modern biotechnology and medicine. The world has seen a few successful cases, but the welfare of these children is still governed by the country’s regulatory authorities. While this novel invention provides several advantages to parents for selecting specific traits, it has also received wide criticism for the same purpose. One of the reasons for the development of PGD was to prevent genetic and inherited diseases. Genetic screening can…

Mammals have two kinds of cells: a somatic cell and sex cells. The SCNT process works as follows: The nucleus is removed from a somatic cell of either a female or a male. An unfertilized ovum is taken from a female and has its nucleus removed and then, replaced with the somatic cell nucleus. The resulting ovum with a somatic cell nucleus is then, stimulated and implanted in a female womb to grow to term. The resulting offspring are genetically identical to the individual that was the source of…