Bioethical issues affect everyone

Technology has made life easier, but also more complicated in many ways, particularly in the field of bioethics. The announcement last month from the London-based Nuffield Council on Bioethics that changing the DNA of a human embryo could be “morally permissible” if it is in the best interest of the child, is the most recent example of how some applications of science and technology conflict with Catholic teaching. 
 
“Just because we can do something does not mean that we should,” according to Msgr. James Shea, president of the University of Mary. “It’s important to take a step back, and ask, ‘what will this do for the future of human kind?’” 
 
That is the very reason, he explained, that the University offers a graduate degree in bioethics as a service to the Church—to help people navigate the complicated world of technology and religion. It is also the reason that on Aug. 10-11, leading experts in the field of bioethics gathered at the University of Mary for their annual two-day seminar, in partnership with the National Catholic Bioethics Center (NCBC), to address the bioethical issues of our times. As always, it was open to the public.
 
“We live in a time where bioethical concerns are rapidly escalating, and lay people should have at least a rudimentary understanding of the issues,” Msgr. Shea said. “It’s important to put forth these profound questions for the human race and to do it using the deep insights of the Catholic faith. The context of the wisdom and tried and true teaching of the Catholic Church about the nature and limitation of human power is our guide to the true and deep nature of healing.”
 
Best interest
“On first glance, genetic editing of human embryos to treat diseases seems like a laudable project,” according to one of the presenters, Fr. Tad Pacholczyk who has a Ph.D. in neuroscience from Yale, is one of the world’s experts in the bioethics field and is the director of education for the NCBC. “But the reality is far more complex. The most likely approach that scientists would take to genetically modify an embryo would require that the embryo(s) be created in glassware through in vitro fertilization, a step that violates their human dignity and ‘objectifies’ them. Humans are entitled to be brought into the world not in the cold, impersonal world of laboratory glassware, but exclusively in the loving bodily embrace of their parents.”
He added, “The proposed genetic ‘therapies’ would not involve treating the embryo as a unique patient, within his or her mother’s womb. It would rather involve treating the embryo as laboratory fodder, prepped up for experimental protocols that, in fact, would require numerous embryos to be simultaneously created (or thawed out), treated as ‘products’ and subjected to genetic ‘treatments’ to see if just a few of them might end up surviving and developing without the disease.”
Unforeseen ramifications
Real answers and real help come by holding to truth as taught by the Church, which is not a formula that gives everyone what they want as their right, Fr. Pacholczyk explained. “Rights language bulldozes those preventing you getting to their rights, but is this true? Do you have a right to a baby? No, a baby is not a piece of property.”
 
The ramifications of technology are not always apparent on the surface. For instance, as a result of in vitro fertilization (IVF) technology, there are now hundreds of thousands of embryos in storage. Judges have had to decide the fate of some through custody battles between separating couples. One California surrogate mother lost in court after she contracted with a stranger to carry his children in her womb, and when he changed his mind, he sought to compel her to abort the three unborn babies. The woman sued for custody, but the judge ruled that the contract was binding. Thus, IVF effectively allows the creation, destruction and purchasing of children at whim.
 
Examples like these remind us of the wisdom of the Church’s teachings and guidance, according to Fr. Pacholczyk. In one of his talks during the recent seminar, he referred to the article, “The Sperm-Donor Kids Are Not Really All Right” which reported how some children created through sperm donation are struggling with troubling issues in understanding their own origins. One woman put it this way, “My existence owed almost nothing to the serendipitous nature of normal human reproduction where babies are the natural progression of mutually fulfilling adult relationships, but rather represented a verbal contract, a financial transaction and a cold, clinical harnessing of medical technology.”
 
Ethical solutions
 
The Church does want to help infertile couples to have babies by encouraging the use of techniques that respect the dignity of the human person and assist, rather than replace, the marital act. Father Pacholczyk pointed to the example of NaPro (Natural Procreative) Technology which seeks to identify and treat the underlying cause of the couple’s infertility and has a one-and-a-half to three times higher success rate than IVF.
 
He also noted that the Church wants to see cures and treatments for serious diseases by encouraging the use of techniques that do not rely on the exploitation of human embryos. There have not been any clinical successes thus far using stem cells from embryos, while therapies using the ethically acceptable adult or umbilical cord stem cells have had extensive successes in the clinic. Yet, Fr. Pacholczyk cautioned against focusing on “what works” because even if human embryonic stem cells one day lead to effective treatments, their use will still be immoral.
 
Facts over emotion
Immoral applications of technology are often defended based on emotions. “But emotions don’t afford us a solid foundation for understanding moral issues,” according to Fr. Pacholczyk. We rather need careful reflection and discernment.
 
He noted that the public often initially responds with repugnance toward some bioethical issues like cloning or gene manipulation, but as time goes on, they soften to the idea. “They start thinking, ‘Well, as long as scientists and researchers tell us they have a good reason, maybe it’s okay after all and will result in progress.’ But real progress cannot occur apart from good ethics.”
 
When the Church deems an action to be unethical, Fr. Pacholczyk noted, it is often because there is a grave injustice involved, or because the action treats a good as if it were an evil. Unethical actions often lead to bad effects, which he said can speak to us and hearken back to why it was wrong from the beginning. 
 
Father Pacholczyk encourages Catholics to understand the Church’s positions to be able to share a reasoned, non-emotional explanation with others and to be personally prepared to make intelligent, moral decisions in their own lives. 
 
“Learn the issues and explain them in your own language,” he said. “And realize that God calls us to grow where He has put us, and to ourselves plant seeds, so we don’t need to feel like we have to convert everyone, but simply witness to them the depth of our own respect for what the Church teaches.”