Abstract

Insights from Confucianism and Daoism disrupt the usual conversation in productive ways. While they ultimately come down for or against abortion and other related issues, they do so for reasons other than those usually put forward in conventional American debates. There is much about birth in Daoism, but nothing about a definitive determination of the beginning of life. Confucianism and Daoism maintain a certain consistency between their attitudes on abortion and in vitro fertilization (IVF). Ethical questions regarding stem cell research are related to those involved with abortion and IVF. Daoism is a fluid enough philosophy to allow for an alternative interpretation. Stem cell research might be seen as a simpler process of working at things before they've begun, and that could open the way for Daoist acceptance.