Roman Catholic Church

Beginning of Life

Quoted in Instructions to Dignitas Personae on Certain Bioethical Issues from original document Donum Vitae^[1]:

"Thus the fruit of human generation, from the first moment of its existence, that is to say, from the moment the zygote has formed, demands the unconditional respect that is morally due to the human being in his bodily and spiritual totality. The human being is to be respected and treated as a person from the moment of conception; and therefore from that same moment his rights as a person must be recognized, among which in the first place is the inviolable right of every innocent human being to life." (Dignitas Personae^[2])

General view of the embryo See Declaration on Procured Abortion^[3] (quoted in Donum Vitae,^[4] part 5, section 1.1):

"From the time that the ovum is fertilized, a new life is begun which is neither that of the father nor of the mother; it is rather the life of a new human being with his own growth. It would never be made human if it were not human already. To this perpetual evidence ... modern genetic science brings valuable confirmation. It has demonstrated that, from the first instant, the programme is fixed as to what this living being will be: a man, this individual-man with his characteristic aspects already well determined. Right from fertilization is begun the adventure of a human life, and each of its great capacities requires time ... to find its place and to be in a position to act." (Declaration on Procured Abortion,^[5])

General Theological perspective on Embryos:

"The body of a human being, from the very first stages of its existence, can never be reduced merely to a group of cells. The embryonic human body develops progressively according to a well-defined program with its proper finality, as is apparent in the birth of every baby." Dignitas Personae^[6])

Abortion

Official Statement: from Section 14 of Humanae Vitae^[7]. Abortion is prohibited for any reason, including medical.

"Therefore We base Our words on the first principles of a human and Christian doctrine of marriage when We are obliged once more to declare that the direct interruption of the generative process already begun and, above all, all direct abortion, even for therapeutic reasons, are to be absolutely excluded as lawful means of regulating the number of children." (Section 14 of Humanae Vitae^[8])

Regarding selective abortions after fertility treatment (from Dignitas Personae,^[9] part 2, section 21):

"From the ethical point of view, embryo reduction is an intentional selective abortion. It is in fact the deliberate and direct elimination of one or more innocent human beings in the initial phase of their existence and as such it always constitutes a grave moral disorder." (Dignitas Personae, part 2, section 21^[10])

Contraception

Official Statement:

"It is supremely desirable, and this was also the mind of Pius XII, that medical science should by the study of natural rhythms succeed in determining a sufficiently secure basis for the chaste limitation of offspring." (Section 24, Humanae Vitae^[11])

"Similarly excluded is any action which either before, at the moment of, or after sexual intercourse, is specifically intended to prevent procreation—whether as an end or as a means. . . . Consequently, it is a serious error to think that a whole married life of otherwise normal relations can justify sexual intercourse which is deliberately contraceptive and so intrinsically wrong>" (Section 14, Humanae Vitae^[12])

Infertility & Reproduction

Reproductive Technology

Official Statement:

"In light of this principle, all techniques of heterologous artificial fertilization, as well as those techniques of homologous artificial fertilization which substitute for the conjugal act, are to be excluded. On the other hand, techniques which act as an aid to the conjugal act and its fertility are permitted." (Dignitas Personae,^[13] Part 2, section 12)"

"Certainly, techniques aimed at removing obstacles to natural fertilization, as for example, hormonal treatments for infertility, surgery for endometriosis, unblocking of fallopian tubes or their surgical repair, are licit. All these techniques may be considered authentic treatments because, once the problem causing the infertility has been resolved, the married couple is able to engage in conjugal acts resulting in procreation, without the physician’s action directly interfering in that act itself. None of these treatments replaces the conjugal act, which alone is worthy of truly responsible procreation." (Dignitas Personae,^[14] Part 2, section 13)

"The fundamental values connected with the techniques of artificial human procreation are two: the life of the human being called into existence and the special nature of the transmission of human life in marriage. The moral judgment on such methods of artificial procreation must therefore be formulated in reference to these values." (Donum Vitae,^[15] Part 4)

"These procedures are contrary to the human dignity proper to the embryo, and at the same time they are contrary to the right of every person to be conceived and to be born within marriage and from marriage. Also, attempts or hypotheses for obtaining a human being without any connection with sexuality through "twin fission", cloning or parthenogenesis are to be considered contrary to the moral law, since they are in opposition to the dignity both of human procreation and of the conjugal union." (Donum Vitae,^[16] Part 5, section 1.6).

"The connection between in vitro fertilization and the voluntary destruction of human embryos occurs too often. This is significant: through these procedures, with apparently contrary purposes, life and death are subjected to the decision of man, who thus sets himself up as the giver of life and death by decree." (Donum Vitae,^[17] Part 5, Section 2)

Official Statements on Specific Assisted Reproductive Technologies

Artificial Insemination – of mother with father’s sperm

Artificial Insemination – of mother with donor’s sperm

(See Donum Vitae part 5, section 2.A.2 for an outline on the Catholic Church’s perspective on children being born into a marital union, and procreation occurring only between the husband and wife)

"These reasons lead to a negative moral judgment concerning heterologous artificial fertilization: consequently fertilization of a married woman with the sperm of a donor different from her husband and fertilization with the husband's sperm of an ovum not coming from his wife are morally illicit. Furthermore, the artificial fertilization of a woman who is unmarried or a widow, whoever the donor may be, cannot be morally justified." (Donumn Vitae, part 5, section 2.A.2)

Artificial Insemination – with egg and sperm donors, using surrogate mother

"Artificial insemination as a substitute for the conjugal act is prohibited by reason of the voluntarily achieved dissociation of the two meanings of the conjugal act. Masturbation, through which the sperm is normally obtained, is another sign of this dissociation: even when it is done for the purpose of procreation, the act remains deprived of its unitive meaning: "It lacks the sexual relationship called for by the moral order, namely the relationship which realizes 'the full sense of mutual self-giving and human procreation in the context of true love'." (Reference in Donum Vitae: SACRED CONGREGATION FOR THE DOCTRINE OF THE FAITH, Declaration on Certain Questions Concerning Sexual ethics, 9: AAS 68 (1976) 86, which quotes the Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes, 51. Cf. Decree of the Holy Office, 2 August 1929: AAS 21 (1929) 490; POPE PIUS XII, Discourse to those taking part in the 26th Congress of the Italian Society of Urology, 8 October 1953: AAS 45 (1953) 678.) (Donum Vitae Part 5, Section 2.B.6)

In Vitro Fertilization - using egg and sperm of parents

The church’s stance on IVF, but this is only the conclusion after a lengthy argument regarding IVF and the treatment of the embryo:

"The Church moreover holds that it is ethically unacceptable to dissociate procreation from the integrally personal context of the conjugal act: human procreation is a personal act of a husband and wife, which is not capable of substitution. The blithe acceptance of the enormous number of abortions involved in the process of in vitro fertilization vividly illustrates how the replacement of the conjugal act by a technical procedure – in addition to being in contradiction with the respect that is due to procreation as something that cannot be reduced to mere reproduction – leads to a weakening of the respect owed to every human being. Recognition of such respect is, on the other hand, promoted by the intimacy of husband and wife nourished by married love." (Instruction Dignitas Personae, Part 2, section 16)

"Homologous IVF and ET is brought about outside the bodies of the couple through actions of third parties whose competence and technical activity determine the success of the procedure. Such fertilization entrusts the life and identity of the embryo into the power of doctors and biologists and establishes the domination of technology over the origin and destiny of the human person. Such a relationship of domination is in itself contrary to the dignity and equality that must be common to parents and children." (Donum Vitae Part 5, section 2.B.5).

"Homologous artificial insemination within marriage cannot be admitted except for those cases in which the technical means is not a substitute for the conjugal act but serves to facilitate and to help so that the act attains its natural purpose." (Donum Vitae, part 5, section 2.B.6)

IVF – with Intra-Cytoplasmic Sperm Injection

The church specifically says that this, too, is not an ethical form of procreation:

"Just as in general with in vitro fertilization, of which it is a variety, ICSI is intrinsically illicit: it causes a complete separation between procreation and the conjugal act." (Instruction Dignitas Personae, Part 2, section 17)

IVF – with frozen embryos

Specifically on cryogenic freezing of embryos:

"Cryopreservation is incompatible with the respect owed to human embryos; it presupposes their production in vitro; it exposes them to the serious risk of death or physical harm, since a high percentage does not survive the process of freezing and thawing; it deprives them at least temporarily of maternal reception and gestation; it places them in a situation in which they are susceptible to further offense and manipulation." (Instruction Dignitas Personae, Part 2, section 18)

"Homologous artificial fertilization, in seeking a procreation which is not the fruit of a specific act of conjugal union, objectively effects an analogous separation between the goods and the meanings of marriage. Thus, fertilization is licitly sought when it is the result of a "conjugal act which is per se suitable for the generation of children to which marriage is ordered by its nature and by which the spouses become one flesh."( Code of Canon Law, Can. 1061. According to this Canon, the conjugal act is that by which the marriage is consummated if the couple "have performed (it) between themselves in a human manner.") But from the moral point of view procreation is deprived of its proper perfection when it is not desired as the fruit of the conjugal act, that is to say of the specific act of the spouses' union." (Donum Vitae, Part 5, Section 2.B.4)

Overall Ethical consideration on what to do with frozen embryos:

"All things considered, it needs to be recognized that the thousands of abandoned embryos represent a situation of injustice which in fact cannot be resolved. Therefore John Paul II made an “appeal to the conscience of the world’s scientific authorities and in particular to doctors, that the production of human embryos be halted, taking into account that there seems to be no morally licit solution regarding the human destiny of the thousands and thousands of ‘frozen’ embryos which are and remain the subjects of essential rights and should therefore be protected by law as human persons”." (Instruction Dignitas Personae, Part 2, Section 19).

Ethical Consideration on what to do with frozen embryos: (from Donum Vitae)

"The freezing of embryos, even when carried out in order to preserve the life of an embryo - cryopreservation - constitutes an offence against the respect due to human beings by exposing them to grave risks of death or harm to their physical integrity and depriving them, at least temporarily, of maternal shelter and gestation, thus placing them in a situation in which further offences and manipulation are possible." (Donum Vitae, Part 5, Section 1.6)

IVF – with pre-implantation genetic diagnosis

(See below for Germ-line therapy)

IVF – with egg donor

"These reasons lead to a negative moral judgment concerning heterologous artificial fertilization: consequently fertilization of a married woman with the sperm of a donor different from her husband and fertilization with the husband's sperm of an ovum not coming from his wife are morally illicit. Furthermore, the artificial fertilization of a woman who is unmarried or a widow, whoever the donor may be, cannot be morally justified." (Donum Vitae, Part 5, section 2.A.2)

IVF – with sperm donor

"These reasons lead to a negative moral judgment concerning heterologous artificial fertilization: consequently fertilization of a married woman with the sperm of a donor different from her husband and fertilization with the husband's sperm of an ovum not coming from his wife are morally illicit. Furthermore, the artificial fertilization of a woman who is unmarried or a widow, whoever the donor may be, cannot be morally justified." (Donum Vitae, Part 5, section 2.A.2)

IVF – with surrogate with egg and sperm from parents

All surrogacy is considered morally illicit in Donum Vitae. The paper lists out both surrogacy from the mother and father and when the surrogate donates an ovum.

"[Surrogacy]for it is contrary to the unity of marriage and to the dignity of the procreation of the human person. Surrogate motherhood represents an objective failure to meet the obligations of maternal love, of conjugal fidelity and of responsible motherhood; it offends the dignity and the right of the child to be conceived, carried in the womb, brought into the world and brought up by his own parents; it sets up, to the detriment of families, a division between the physical, psychological and moral elements which constitute those families." (Donum Vitae, Part 5, Section 2.A.3)

"The proposal that these embryos could be put at the disposal of infertile couples as a treatment for infertility is not ethically acceptable for the same reasons which make artificial heterologous procreation illicit as well as any form of surrogate motherhood; this practice would also lead to other problems of a medical, psychological and legal nature." (Instruction Dignitas Personae, Part 2, section 19).

IVF – with surrogate and egg donor

See IVF – with surrogate with egg and sperm from parents above

IVF – with surrogate and sperm donor

See IVF – with surrogate with egg and sperm from parents above

IVF – with surrogate and her egg and father’s sperm

See IVF – with surrogate with egg and sperm from parents above

IVF – with surrogate and egg and sperm donor

See IVF – with surrogate with egg and sperm from parents above.

Cytoplasmic transfer

Nuclear Transfer and Cloning (for reproduction)

"Human cloning is intrinsically illicit in that, by taking the ethical negativity of techniques of artificial fertilization to their extreme, it seeks to give rise to a new human being without a connection to the act of reciprocal self-giving between the spouses and, more radically, without any link to sexuality. This leads to manipulation and abuses gravely injurious to human dignity." (Instruction Dignitas Personae, Part 3, section 28).

Theological reasons for rejecting cloning for reproductive purposes:

"If cloning were to be done for reproduction, this would impose on the resulting individual a predetermined genetic identity, subjecting him – as has been stated – to a form of biological slavery, from which it would be difficult to free himself. The fact that someone would arrogate to himself the right to determine arbitrarily the genetic characteristics of another person represents a grave offense to the dignity of that person as well as to the fundamental equality of all people." (Instruction Dignitas Personae, Part 3, Section 29).

Frozen Oocytes

Official Statement:

Biotechnology

Animal-Human Hybrids & Chimeras

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Human Cloning

Official Position:

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Stem Cell Research

Official Position: from Dignitas Personae^[18]

"With regard to the ethical evaluation, it is necessary to consider the methods of obtaining stem cells as well as the risks connected with their clinical and experimental use." (Dignitas Personae,^[19] Part 3, Section 32)

"The obtaining of stem cells from a living human embryo, on the other hand, invariably causes the death of the embryo and is consequently gravely illicit: “research, in such cases, irrespective of efficacious therapeutic results, is not truly at the service of humanity. In fact, this research advances through the suppression of human lives that are equal in dignity to the lives of other human individuals and to the lives of the researchers themselves. History itself has condemned such a science in the past and will condemn it in the future, not only because it lacks the light of God but also because it lacks humanity”." (Dignitas Personae,^[20] Part 3, section 32; quote from Benedict XVI, Address to the participants in the Symposium on the topic: “Stem Cells: what is the future for therapy?” organized by the Pontifical Academy for Life (16 September 2006): AAS 98 (2006), 694.)

Emerging Technologies

Ethical Use of Technology

Official Statement:

Official Statement: embryonic research (from IVF):

"Human embryos obtained in vitro are human beings and subjects with rights: their dignity and right to life must be respected from the first moment of their existence. It is immoral to produce human embryos destined to be exploited as disposable "biological material"…It is a duty to condemn the particular gravity of the voluntary destruction of human embryos obtained 'in vitro' for the sole purpose of research, either by means of artificial insemination of by means of 'twin fission'." (Donum Vitae,^[21] part 5, section 1.4)

Overall Ethical consideration on what to do with frozen embryos:

"All things considered, it needs to be recognized that the thousands of abandoned embryos represent a situation of injustice which in fact cannot be resolved. Therefore John Paul II made an “appeal to the conscience of the world’s scientific authorities and in particular to doctors, that the production of human embryos be halted, taking into account that there seems to be no morally licit solution regarding the human destiny of the thousands and thousands of ‘frozen’ embryos which are and remain the subjects of essential rights and should therefore be protected by law as human persons”." (Instruction Dignitas Personae, Part 2, Section 19).

Ethical Consideration on what to do with frozen embryos (form Donum Vitae):

"The freezing of embryos, even when carried out in order to preserve the life of an embryo - cryopreservation - constitutes an offence against the respect due to human beings by exposing them to grave risks of death or harm to their physical integrity and depriving them, at least temporarily, of maternal shelter and gestation, thus placing them in a situation in which further offences and manipulation are possible." (Donum Vitae, Part 5, Section 1.6)

Issues of Human Dignity & Discrimination

Disability Ethics

Official Statement:

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Eugenics

Official Statements:

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Notes

[1] ttp://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_19870222_respect-for-human-life_en.html

[2] ttp://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20081208_dignitas-personae_en.html

[3] ttp://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_19741118_declaration-abortion_en.html

[4] ttp://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_19870222_respect-for-human-life_en.html

[5] ttp://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_19741118_declaration-abortion_en.html

[6] ttp://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20081208_dignitas-personae_en.html

[7] ttp://www.vatican.va/holy_father/paul_vi/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-vi_enc_25071968_humanae-vitae_en.html

[8] ttp://www.vatican.va/holy_father/paul_vi/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-vi_enc_25071968_humanae-vitae_en.html

[9] ttp://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20081208_dignitas-personae_en.html

[10] ttp://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20081208_dignitas-personae_en.html

[11] ttp://www.vatican.va/holy_father/paul_vi/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-vi_enc_25071968_humanae-vitae_en.html

[12] ttp://www.vatican.va/holy_father/paul_vi/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-vi_enc_25071968_humanae-vitae_en.html

[13] ttp://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20081208_dignitas-personae_en.html

[14] ttp://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20081208_dignitas-personae_en.html

[15] ttp://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_19870222_respect-for-human-life_en.html

[16] ttp://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_19870222_respect-for-human-life_en.html

[17] ttp://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_19870222_respect-for-human-life_en.html

[18] ttp://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20081208_dignitas-personae_en.html

[19] ttp://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20081208_dignitas-personae_en.html

[20] ttp://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20081208_dignitas-personae_en.html

[21] ttp://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_19870222_respect-for-human-life_en.html

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Roman Catholic Church

Contents

Beginning of Life

Infertility & Reproduction

Reproductive Technology

Artificial Insemination – of mother with father’s sperm

Artificial Insemination – of mother with donor’s sperm

Artificial Insemination – with egg and sperm donors, using surrogate mother

In Vitro Fertilization - using egg and sperm of parents

IVF – with Intra-Cytoplasmic Sperm Injection

IVF – with frozen embryos

IVF – with pre-implantation genetic diagnosis

IVF – with egg donor

IVF – with sperm donor

IVF – with surrogate with egg and sperm from parents

IVF – with surrogate and egg donor

IVF – with surrogate and sperm donor

IVF – with surrogate and her egg and father’s sperm

IVF – with surrogate and egg and sperm donor

Cytoplasmic transfer

Nuclear Transfer and Cloning (for reproduction)

Healthcare & Medicine

Science & Technology

Biotechnology

Emerging Technologies

Genetic Ethics

End of Life

Issues of Human Dignity & Discrimination

Notes

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