VIDEO- CONFERENCE WEDNESDAY 27
SEPTEMBER 2006
BIOETHICS: THE HUMAN GENOME AND STEM CELLS
Dr. Hyacinth Ennis OFM
THE DANGER OF A NEW SELECTIVE EUGENICS, WHICH AMIS
TO DESTROY EMBRYOS WITH DEFECTS AND ILLNESS
Because of
the wonderful advances made in recent years by human embryology, scientists can
now detect various things about the young embryo while in the womb of its
mother. Among the things that can be
discovered are the presence of certain physical and even mental disabilities or
handicaps in the embryo. Unfortunately such a scientific detection and its
concomitant information can lead people – especially impressionable pregnant
mothers – to decide to undergo a clinical abortion. Just because the embryo is
found to be defective, they (mothers and medical personnel) consider it being
in their best interest to abort the said imperfect embryo. This being the case,
many medical specialists and indeed even legal systems, permit and encourage a
so-called “therapeutic abortion” in such instances. This, for example, is the
sort of an abortion permitted in the Choice of Termination of Pregnancy Act of
South Africa of 1996 which, inter alia,
legally allows abortion when “there exists a substantial risk that the fetus
would suffer from a severe physical or mental abnormality (Act., 2, (1) (bb))
The Catholic
Church does permit medical procedures to be carried out on the human embryo
“which respect the life and integrity of the embryo and do not involve
disproportionate risks for it, but are directed towards its healing” (Donum
Vitae, I, 3).However, the use of such procedures to warrant the abortion of
defective embryos (either because of physical or mental defects) has been
roundly condemned by the Church in recent times. It is one of the cases elucidated by Pope John Paul II in his
Encyclical Letter, Evangelium Vitae of 1995 (pars 14 and 63) where he
calls it “eugenic abortion”. A similar
line is taken by the Catechism of the Catholic Church (par. 2274) and by
the Charter for Health Care Workers (par.61) of the Pontifical
Council for Pastoral assistance to Health Care Workers of 1995.
Such a
“eugenic abortion” is plainly and simply contrary to the Vth. Commandment and
the “right to life” of the unborn child.
It is at the same time a violation of the Hippocratic Oath. The Declaration of the Rights of the
Child of the United Nations in 1959 declares that “the child, because of
its physical and mental immaturity, needs special care and safeguards,
including legal safeguards, before as well as after birth” (our
underlining). Thus, such a so-called “eugenic abortion” is a violation of legal
justice and good medicine. It is a form
of unjust discrimination against an innocent human life: certain individuals
are deemed worthy of living while others are discarded because of their
inability to reach the technical standards of science in regard to human
perfection. In this respect this type
of “selective eugenics” becomes acceptable in some medical and legal quarters.
There is a
naivete here that fails to recognise the depth of tragedy in human existence-
it has rushed in where angels fear to tread. It fails to see that its “panacea”
has only served to open a Pandora’s box of further problems of deeper
consequence. The slippery slope has drawn closer to the abyss.
A line has to
be drawn - such procedures are not in the best interest of the unborn child and
only help to illustrate society’s incapacity to cope with so-called human
imperfection and physical disability.
Unborn children, especially the “defective” ones, are indeed, the most
vulnerable of humans!