Sanctity of Human LifeDoes a person have the right to take another human life, at any stage of development? A city council debates whether to sacrifice Bill, a man with no earthly attachments, to save five members of society. Two parents are faced with the choice of whether to use embryonic stem cell treatment to reverse their son's paralysis or leave him paralyzed from the neck down. The mother wants to resort to treatment while the stepfather is against the treatment because it kills an embryo. In both situations, the sanctity of life obliges us not to sacrifice an innocent human life, potential or existing, to improve the well-being of another. An embryo is potential human life; therefore it cannot be sacrificed. Potential human life is present at the moment of conception, when the egg and sperm unite. Only nine months separate this embryo from the developed human being. Letting an embryo die to increase the well-being of the young person does not take into account the sacredness of human life. The youngster still has potential; he is not dead. The embryo personifies the rawest potential of human life. Both are human lives that have inviolable potential. Kant's categorical imperative applies here. The embryo is an end, not a means. It should be appreciated for its very existence; it is a meaningful life with equal status alongside other lives. A universal law is moral only if applied to all people. If one believes that everyone should be honest, then he must be honest otherwise the law is not universal. The universal application of the sanctity of life considers it immoral to sacrifice someone to save another, because then you are making an exception to that law. Therefore, no human life form is worthy of sacrifice. In the organ harvesting dilemma, the sanctity of life prevents… half of the paper… from endangering others. Works Cited Weston, Anthony. A 21st century ethical toolbox. 2nd ed. New York: Oxford, 2008. Print. Pages 127-144Anthony Weston has taught ethics for 25 years and is currently a professor of ethics at Elon University. He has written numerous books on ethics and its use. This book is a guide to discovering ethics, its morality and its application. Use vivid excerpts from renowned authors and philosophers to convey information effectively. While reading this book, you discover new concepts about the world around us. Weston credits professors who collaborated on similar studies with helping produce this book early on. Information from Weston's book was crucial to understanding ethics, especially the excerpt from Kant's Grounding for the Metaphysicals Morals.