THE POSSIBILITY OF A UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF BIOMEDICAL ETHICS

THE POSSIBILITY OF A UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF BIOMEDICAL ETHICS

Numerous groups have put out “universal” bioethics declaration mainly from a secular, post-Modern perspective. Over one-fifth of the world is Muslim and Islam has over 1400 years of scholarship in jurisprudence, philosophy, and medicine. Secular biomedical systems and Islam hold in common many concepts but use differing inferences to arrive at them. Secular schools use an anthropocentric method where as Islam uses theocentric one. This paper asks the question. Is it possible to derive a truly universal declaration of biomedical ethics “ by examining the application of autonomy vis-à-vis the issue of elective abortion. The author concludes that it is not possible in practice because the differing inferences endow these shared concepts with different values and order of emphasis.