Law Commons^™

Owning Persons: The Application Of Property Theory To Embryos And Fetuses, Jessica Wilen Berg

Faculty Publications

Embryos are all over the news. According to the New York Times there are currently 400,000 frozen embryos in storage. Headlines proclaim amazing advances in our understanding of embryonic stem cells. And legislation involving cloning and embryos continues to be hotly debated. Despite the media attention, theoretical analysis of embryos' legal status is lacking.

This article advances a number of novel arguments. First, recognition of property interests does not preclude the recognition of personhood interests. Embryos, fetuses and children may be both persons and property. Second, property law is conceptually more suited to resolving debates about embryos than procreative liberty, …