Exploring Bioethics - NIH Office of Science Education - National ...

Round 2: Ethical vs. Legal Questions1. Ask students to put aside the cards from Round 1 but to keepthem in two piles for later.2. Give pairs of students the cards made from Master 1.2:What Type of Question? Round 2—Ethical vs. Legal Questions.3. Ask students to sort this next group of cards into two piles.Remember not to reveal the types of questions present.4. Ask students within each pair to identify, together, what twotypes of questions they think they have been sorting.5. Call on students to share with the class their two typesof questions.6. Read the list of Round 2 questions from the Round 2 Answer Key(below) aloud, and ask students to raise their hands to indicatewhether they thought each question was ethical or legal.Round 2 Answer Key: Ethical (E) vs. Legal (L) (Master 1.2)Type QuestionL Does your state allow parents to opt out of vaccinating their children?EShould healthcare providers ever vaccinate children whoseparents object?LELELELEDoes the United States permit the death penalty?Is killing always wrong?What is the law concerning abortion?What kinds of rights should be granted to individuals whose braindevelopment has stopped at the equivalent of a six-month-old child’s?Is it illegal to sell a kidney in the United States?Should people distribute spare organs to those who are the mostlikely to die without the transplant or to those who have the bestchance of living longest after the transplant?Is cloning of human embryos permitted in the United States?Should people clone animals that have desirable traits?7. Use the following points to engage students in a discussionof Round 2:• Ethical analyses should take the legal context and local laws intoconsideration, but something can be illegal yet ethical.• Something can also be legal and unethical, such as the Jim Crowlaws that prohibited African Americans from using public waterfountains used by whites. It is not illegal to lie about breaking acereal bowl at your house, but it may be unethical.1-12Exploring Bioethics