Rejected petition Mitochondria Replacement Therapy

I wish to appeal to the UK government to abstain from research and procedures that involve the intentional destruction of human embryos. This includes the recent plans for mitochondrial replacement therapy in which, in the case of pro-nuclear transfer, a human embryo with unhealthy mitochondria is destroyed in order to create a healthy one.

The human embryo reserves the right to be treated with the same dignity and respect as a born human person and to be given the same human rights. It is inconsistent to consider age, size, stage of development and dependency status as reasons for the unborn to be given less rights than a born human being, given that these factors are not considered acceptable reasons to deny somebody of their human rights after birth. Given that human life is on a continuum of development from the moment of conception, there is no logical basis for denying the human embryo of its human rights.