This article examines ideas concerning the human embryo and foetus present in the discourse of professional staff working in human reproductive medicine and infertility services, as well as texts published in the mainstream press. It focuses on the debate concerning the status of the embryo outside the body, in particular, the polemic surrounding the use of human embryos as research material for obtaining stem cells, an area of scientific investigation that raises the hope of cures for a wide range of diseases. This debate points to situations of 'social drama' or controversy that reveal critical questions for the constitution of society. Here ideas concerning the human embryo and foetus tend either to attribute or deny them personhood. Based on biological descriptions, but invoking both scientific and religious discourses, these arguments expose some of the contemporary values of modern western cosmology.
Human embryo; Stem cells; Social construction of the person; Biologization