Convergence in European nations' legal rules concerning the use of human embryos in research?

Abstract

In this article convergence in European countries' legislative rules concerning the use of embryos in research is studied by looking at how such rules have been formulated in France, Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. An answer will be given as to whether these countries' rules concerning the use of embryos in research have converged and if so what direction this convergence has taken, either liberalization or an extension of moral regulation by the state. This analysis shows to some extent that liberalization of the legislative rules concerning the use of embryos in research has taken place in these countries but also exposes how EU research funding policy has slowed it down. Subsequently, attention will be paid to the driving forces behind the liberalization as well as the countering forces it evokes.