The democratic legitimacy of interactive legislation of the European union concerning human embryo research

Nicolle Zeegers

pp. 253-267

in: Bart van Klink, Britta van Beers, Lonneke Poort (eds), Symbolic legislation theory and developments in biolaw, Berlin, Springer, 2016

Abstract

Clear differences exist between European Member States' and interest groups' positions concerning the moral status of the early human embryo. Some adhere to absolute protection for such embryo from its very conception while others take a gradualist approach. However, human embryonic stem cell research promises great advances for human health and as such is one of the showpieces of innovation the EU wants to facilitate with Horizon 2020. In order to determine the norms that should guide EU funding of research with human embryos in the context of this financial instrument, the Member States have negotiated with each other and with the European Commission. As a result the EU only funds research activities involving existing human embryonic stem cell lines. However, the European Citizen's Initiative One of us recently has pleaded for a total ban on human stem cell research.In this article the question of whether the EU norms for funding research with human embryos have been established in a democratically legitimate way will be addressed and an argument will be developed about how to determine whether this is the case.