Reflections on human embryo research: the debate in Portuguese ethics organizations

The objective of this article is to analyze the arguments used by Portuguese ethics organizations with respect to the regulation of human embryo research. Documents produced between 2006 and 2010 were collected and, based on thematic content analysis, the discursive strategies were studied from a semantic approach to data. The ethical debate focused on two issues, in which heterogeneous arguments coexist based on principialist, secular and interventional bioethics: the status of abstract embryos (human being/person or biological artifact/laboratory neostructure); and the criteria that should guide best practices and balance expectations and risks in research using embryos. The perspectives of those who must decide the fate of real embryos should be incorporated into the discussion.