A supernumerary embryo is an embryo produced through in vitro fertilization that is not transferred into the uterus but is frozen (cryopreserved), discarded, or used up for research purposes.
Every supernumerary embryo is a human person with full ontological dignity. His personhood begins with fertilization — in the First Dimension (Prote Energeia) he is fully a person. Producing him in reserve, freezing him and discarding him are grave forms of practical oblivion of the person.
The designation “supernumerary” itself reveals the oblivion of the person: it treats a person as a quantifiable unit that can be “too many.” From a personal-ontological perspective no person can be “supernumerary” — every person is unique and possesses inalienable intrinsic value.
The right to life of the supernumerary embryo is the same as that of every other human person. The practice of freezing embryos fails to recognize that these are persons in a life phase, not biological material.
Ontological classification
Superordinate concepts: Embryonic phase, Life phase
Ontological relations:
- is produced by: in vitro fertilization (produces supernumerary embryos)
- possesses: personhood, ontological dignity
Chapter assignment: Chapter 5: Oblivion of the Person (German)
See also
- In vitro fertilization
- Embryo transfer
- Frozen embryo transfer (cryotransfer)
- Embryo donation
- Embryo research utilization
- Indefinite cryostorage
- Embryo
- Fertilization
- Right to life
- Personhood
- Dignity
- Abortion
- Josef Seifert
Sources: Generated by querying the Personhood ontology. Bexten 2017, pp. 293 ff. (oblivion of the person as a deficiency phenomenon).