Two weeks before commemorating Christ's birth, the Vatican released an instruction, focused on human life at its origins.
"Dignitas Personae" proclaims human dignity, from the first moment of fertilization until natural death. To anyone who has looked upon a newborn, or seen that child months earlier through an ultrasound, human grandeur is undeniable. When one contemplates the eternal life to which each is called, the undeniable is unspeakably magnificent!
No matter how a human came to be, she is owed uncompromising respect. Dignitas Personae says that she has the right to originate in the loving embrace of a mom & dad, who are wife & husband: "the ethical value of biomedical science is gauged in reference to both the unconditional respect owed to every human being at every moment of his or her existence, & the defense of the specific character of the personal act which transmits life" (# 10).
Our times have seen a vast increase in infertility & interest in reproductive technology. When employed by a husband & wife, Dignitas Personae says assistance to AID the "marital act" toward procreation can be moral (eg., "hormonal treatments..., surgery for endometriosis, unblocking of fallopian tubes or their surgical repair,....prevention of sterility" (# 13)). Even when used by a husband & wife, Dignitas Personae says methods REPLACING the marital act (eg., IVF) are immoral (IVF is also incredibly expensive with a low "success" rate - NaPro Technology is a fabulous alternative.).
Exacerbating IVF's immorality is discarding/freezing "extra", unwanted embryos. Dignitas Personae forbids using these new humans as research material or implanting one in the womb of a woman other than her mom. It also says that "cryopreservation of oocytes for the purpose of being used in artificial procreation is...morally unacceptable" (# 20).
Section 23 of Dignitas Personae appears to require change at Catholic hospitals, regarding treatment of women identified as victims of sexual assault. After trying to rule out pregnancy (&/or ovulation), so-called "emergency contraception" (aka, "morning after pills") HAS been allowed (Note: Some say it's IMPOSSIBLE to ensure "emergency contraception" is NOT abortifacient.). "Such methods are interceptive if they interfere with the embryo before implantation & contragestative if they cause the elimination of the embryo once implanted....the use of means of interception & contragestation fall within the sin of abortion and are gravely immoral." NO guidelines are offered for supposed "moral" use of a potential interceptive or contragestative.
Dignitas Personae says that human cloning & mixing human with animal genetic material (Yup, some "scientists" do this!) are immoral. With regard to gene therapy, "Procedures used on somatic cells for strictly therapeutic purposes are in principle morally licit....in its current state, germ line cell therapy in all its forms is morally illicit" (# 26). Also rejected is "genetic engineering for purposes other than medical treatment" (# 27).
Despite research "science" presented by celebrities, obtaining stem cells from embryos is NEITHER the only way NOR the most promising: "Methods which do not cause serious harm to the subject from whom the stem cells are taken are to be considered licit. This is generally the case when tissues are taken from: a) an adult organism; b) the blood of the umbilical cord at the time of birth; c) fetuses who have died of natural causes. 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" (# 32).
When cell lines are illicitly obtained, researchers must refuse to use them. However, "danger to the health of children could permit parents to use a vaccine which was developed using cell lines of illicit origin, while keeping in mind that everyone has the duty to make known their disagreement & to ask that their healthcare system make other types of vaccines available" (# 35).
Dignitas Personae calls everyone to courageously defend human life.
