论人体体外胚胎的刑法保护

On the Protection of Human Embryos Cultured in Vitro under the Criminal Law of China

长期以来,我国刑法对人体体外胚胎的保护滞后,究其原因主要是刑法对人体体外胚胎的法律属性界定不明,在现行刑法体系下无论是将之视作“人”还是“物”加以保护,都难以避免解释力不足的尴尬。为此,有必要摆脱非人即物的认定方法,将人体体外胚胎视为特殊的“人格体”,赋予独特的法律地位。在此基础上,可以考虑采用刑法典和附属刑法双轨并行的保护模式实现对人体体外胚胎的系统保护。

The protection of human embryos cultured in vitro under the Criminal Law of China has long lagged behind due to the undefined legal attributes of those embryos. Under the Criminal Law system currently in effect,it will inevitably lead to the insufficient explanation whether those embryos are protected as a“person”or a“thing”. It is necessary,therefore,to regard those embryos as special living organisms with personality instead of person-or-thing and to grant them unique legal status. On this basis,the protection of those embryos can be achieved systematically by conducting a twin-track protective mode in which the criminal law and the subsidiary criminal law are practiced simultaneously.