It is my duty to refer to Part Three of the Instruction Donum vitae, entitled:" The values and the moral obligations that civil legislation must respect and ratify on this subject".

After mentioning that all the progress made in the biomedical field must be placed at the service of the dignity of human beings from the moment of conception until he leaves this world, that all that is technically possible is not automatically morally permitted, and that the fundamental natural context for procreation must be the loving union of the bride and groom as established by the laws of nature, the Instruction appeals to the law makers so that the rules in the civil legal system may be based on moral order, which is far broader than civil order and founded on reason and on the laws of nature.

It follows that civil laws must protect the common good of people by acknowledging their inalienable rights, starting with the right to life, which, because we are discussing human beings, must not be manipulated from the moment of conception, and this applies even more when the issue concerns a growing human life, which as such is totally undefended. Family rights must be equally guaranteed, so that, in freedom and with responsibility, the family may assume the non-transferable right to procreation and provide man and wife with the reciprocal gift of becoming parents.

On this basis, the Instruction exhorts all Countries to provide themselves with appropriate legislation, so that, using the excuse of biotechnological progress, "eugenisms" based on a discrimination of human beings will not spread and reach the point of even proposing some kind of state or multinational control that might claim to place itself above all States and above their bilateral agreements.

It is a fact that some States have produced Legislation that authorises the elimination of innocents. Similar laws deprive human beings of their right to life and, consequently invalid their ethicality, since all civil law must first of all guarantee the right to life for all individuals. On the other hand, should states embark on the route of legitimising genetic manipulation, they will end up by broadening even more the permissive laws regulating abortion. It follows that laws must indicatively punish severely those who state that the human being as an embryo amounts to material that can become the object of experimentation, mutilation or disposed of.

Tolerating abortion, genetic manipulation, surrogate motherhood, embryo banks, and post-mortem insemination will make it increasingly easier to eliminate society’s essential cell, which is the family, exposing thereby the entire Nation to deterioration.

The Instructions states: "All men of goodwill must be committed, especially through their professional activities and through exercising their civil rights, to reforming positive laws that are morally unacceptable and to correcting illicit practices. Furthermore, when faced with such laws they should exercise "conscientious objection". The Document reminds us how passive resistance is increasing in the consciences of many specialists in biomedical science when they are faced with the legitimisation of practices that are contrary to mankind’s life and dignity.