According to the National Institutes of Health (2014), stem cells over potential to assist in the treatment of numerous medical conditions such as cancer and birth defects. This statement is not debated as the clinical evidence supports this potential. However, the debate begins over the collection of Pluripotent stem cells which are stem cells that are acquired through human embryos that are between a few days and eight weeks of gestational development (National Institutes of Health, 2014).

Hog (2011), explains that the ethical dilemma is having to choose between eliminating the possible suffering of those who are afflicted with these diseases and respecting the value of human life as early as conception. Most people agree that those who are sick should be able to receive the best medical attention possible. However, people cannot agree as to the moral rights of the embryos. Hog (2011) notes that the question is what gestational age the embryo should receive rights. Some say that it is at the point when the nervous system begins to form which is at around 14 days.

Others argue that losing part of the nervous system as an adult does not make a person less human and therefore the nervous system does not mark the point of a human being (Hog, 2011). This argument suggests that life begins at conception and that killing the embryos for the purpose of treating someone who is sick would be comparative to killing one adult to save another. I agree with this argument.