Studied by 6 peopleETHICS
system of moral values (a secular academic field within philosophy)
What are the 3 subdivisions of moral theology
Sexual ethics, medical ethics, social ethics
SEXUAL ETHICS
concerned with sexual integrity and preventing any abuse of another person, sexual or otherwise, that degrades them and attacks their dignity
MEDICAL ETHICS
has two subcategories BEGINNING OF LIFE and END OF LIFE issues
SOCIAL ETHICS
(just wage for workers, immigration, human trafficking, war, etc..)
_______ INSTRUCTION ON RESPECT FOR HUMAN LIFE IN ITS ORIGINS AND ON THE DIGNITY OF PROCREATION, 2 February 1987 by the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith, Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI)
Donum viate
_______Instruction on Certain Bioethical Questions, 20 June 2008, Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
Dignitas personae
True
Catholic morality calls upon us to treat human life in all its manifestations and in all stages of its development with the special care that it deserves.
“RESPECT (for) LIFE”
is the basic principle of Catholic teaching about medical technology and medical practice.
Human life is the ___________ because without it we cannot enjoy any other good thing in this world. Unless we are alive we cannot experience the goodness of friendship, family, travel, sports, and music.
Foundational human good
True
There is a presumption in moral theology that all human life is good and should be treated with respect.
murder, abortion, euthanasia, and suicide are
Morally evil
The Catholic Tradition points to the ________ in our creation in the image and likeness of God
Origin of human dignity
False
Human dignity can be taken away
True
A bum or homeless alcoholic that is not productive still has dignity.
True
Many people will argue that the terminally ill that cannot care for themselves or make decisions for themselves have the “right to die with dignity” (They never lost their dignity!)
False
Human dignity is based on reputation, what you have accomplished.
True
We are people of dignity because we exist.
False
To say that we always have dignity does suggest that we always live in a manner consistent with our dignity.
MEDICAL ETHICS
moral decision making related to medical research and practice
How do we build a BIOMEDICAL ETHIC that
-will ensure that each person is treated as worthy of the utmost care and respect?
-individuals are offered whatever medical attention is appropriate to their illness?
-people are always respected until their last earthly breath?
examples of medical ethics would be
-How can the limited funds available for health care be distributed most fairly?
-How should candidates for organ transplants be selected?
-What should be included in professional codes of behavior for health care providers such as doctors and nurses?
-What rights do I have as a medical patient?
A recurring theme in Church teaching is that the fundamental principle for evaluating all areas of medical ethics is
respect for the dignity of human life.
REPRODUCTIVE TECHNOLOGY
scientific procedures related to procreation and the early stages of life
DNA
the intricate interlocking chain of genetic material that makes up all living cells
True
Human life is sacred no matter how it is conceived!
False
The church is opposed to sex
the case of IVF and artificial insemination the Church teaches that
procreation outside of the loving marital act (intercourse) is contrary to the dignity and respect owed towards human life.
INFERTILITY
an inability to bring about conception (for a man) or to conceive or bear a child (for a woman) through natural methods. Approx 15 % of couples have fertility problems.
REPRODUCTIVE TECHNOLOGIES (CCC # 2374-2377)
may be morally acceptable when they assist but do not replace the natural way of bearing children, that is through sexual intercourse between spouses.
False
Procedures that are now scientifically feasible are 100% moral!!
An example of reproductive technology would be
In vitro fertilization and other reproductive technologies, cloning, embryonic stem cell research, and genetic interventions
True
the Church has judged that human life and/or dignity is threatened or outright harmed by most of these technological and medical procedures
New life should be the result of _______between spouses (UNITIVE & PROCREATIVE DIMENSION)
Sexual intercourse
To remove the creation of new life from this setting risks
treating new life as the product of technology and not the self-gift of loving spouses.
Both the _________ may be endangered
sacredness of marital love and the dignity and life of this new creation
ARTIFICIAL INSEMINATION
the procreative dimension is separated from the unitive
ARTIFICIAL INSEMINATION
● Began as a way to improve breeding of cattle and other animals
● It involves a technique whereby the semen of a husband or other donor is placed in the vagina, cervical canal, or uterus by means OTHER THAN sexual intercourse ● In this procedure both fertilization of the egg and subsequent development take place entirely WITHIN the womb
ARTIFICIAL INSEMINATION BY HUSBAND (AIH)
mechanically introducing a husband’s sperm into his wife’s uterus to bring about fertilization
ARTIFICIAL INSEMINATION BY DONOR (AID)
mechanically introducing sperm from a man other than the woman’s husband into the woman’s uterus to bring about fertilization
IN VITRO FERTILIZATION (IVF)
egg and sperm joined in a lab (outside the womb) with subsequent transfer of the fertilized egg into the uterus of the woman bearing the child (no unitive dimension)
The 2 types of IVF are
Homologous and heterologous
Homologous IVF-ET
(involves husband and wife) E-T “embryo transfer”
Heterologous IVF-ET
“can now be used instead of artificial insemination in instances when the husband is completely infertile or when the wife lacks ovaries or when there is a genetic incompatibility between the spouses”. (William May, Catholic Bioethics and the Gift of Human Life 2nd ed. page 78)
Some variations in in vitro fertilization include the
donation of sperm or egg from a third party.
The year 1978 marked a
further dramatic development in reproductive technology – the first “In vitro” baby was born
The life of this baby began when the
wife’s OVUM (egg cell) had been injected with her husband’s sperm in a petri dish, or “in vitro” (literally, “in a glass”), and the EMBRYO (fertilized egg possessing a unique genetic makeup) was then implanted in the wife’s uterus where it continued development until birth.
Once the egg and sperm could be joined in a lab various possibilities opened for sperm and ovum to come from persons
OTHER THAN the husband and wife
True
Any man could donate sperm and any woman could donate eggs
OVUM
an egg cell
EMBRYO
a fertilized egg possessing a unique genetic makeup
SURROGATE MOTHER
a woman who agrees to be artificially impregnated by a man married to another woman and to relinquish at birth legal custody of the child to the man and his wife
A woman can carry another couple’s child until birth Serving as a
host womb
A surrogate mother may also donate her own egg for _______ with the husband’s sperm (in this case she is considered the biological mother but intends to relinquish the child to the biological father and his wife at birth)
artificial insemination
IN VITRO FERTILIZATION & THE NATURE OF MARRIAGE
The procreative dimension and the unitive dimension is separated
THERAPEUTIC
directed toward healing a disorder, disease, or illness.
A procedure is ______ when its aim is the healing of various maladies (illnesses or problems).
Therapeutic
_______procedures aim at the improvement of the human biological condition. Therapeutic procedures fall within the logic of the Catholic moral tradition; Non-therapeutic procedures do not.
Non therapeutic
GENETICS
the branch of science that examines characteristics inherited from one generation to another.
GENETIC ENGINEERING
changing inherited characteristics by changing genetic makeup of a plant, animal, or person.
Genetic Engineering can potentially be used to try to eliminate
inherited diseases or to search out and possibly alter genes associated with certain types of behavior or personality traits.
Should technological interventions be judged morally acceptable if they are done to choose the sex of a new child, or eye color, or similar traits?
The Church teaches that these “manipulations are contrary to the personal dignity of the human being and his or her integrity and identity.”
While we need to discover the genetic links to diseases and eradicate those diseases, this may never be done at the ________ of a human life.
expense of another person or by harming the dignity
There have been many positive and morally acceptable advances in genetic engineering. For example, the gene linked to
cystic fibrosis has brought rapid advances in its treatment.
PRENATAL DIAGNOSIS
“Since it must be treated from conception as a person, the embryo must be defended in its integrity, cared for, and healed, as far as possible, like any other human being. Prenatal diagnosis is morally licit, "if it respects the life and integrity of the embryo and the human fetus and is directed toward its safeguarding or healing as an individual.... It is gravely opposed to the moral law when this is done with the thought of possibly inducing an abortion, depending upon the results: a diagnosis must not be the equivalent of a death sentence." CCC 2274
CLONING
creating a plant, animal, or person asexually that is genetically identical with a donor plant, animal, or person.
The first successful cloning of a mammal took place in 1997, the cloning of a
Sheep
After that event speculation began about whether or not we could or should clone humans
Catholic teaching rejects the cloning of humans...
Cloning lacks the intimate connection to marriage, especially to the ______ dimension of marriage, and it is an affront to the dignity and rights of a child.
Unitive
TWO KINDS OF STEM CELL RESEARCH:
Embryonic stem cell research, adult stem cell research
Embryonic Stem Cell Research
● Embryonic human life is being experimented upon and used in order to make medical advances ● How can an embryo give free and informed consent? It can’t! ● The Church views embryonic stem cell research as a violation of the dignity of a new human life and opposes its manipulation even for the best of purposes ● “A good end does not make right an action which in itself is wrong”
Adult Stem Cell Research
“The Church at this time does NOT take a similar stance regarding ______. These do not require the production and/or destruction of a human embryo and consequently, “represent a more reasonable and human method for making correct and sound progress in this new field of research and in the therapeutic applications which it promises” (Pontifical Academy for Life, Declaration on the Production and the Scientific and Therapeutic Use of Human Embryonic Stem Cells).
The central question in the abortion debate is
WHEN DOES HUMAN LIFE BEGIN?
The Church, basing itself on sound scientific evidence, consistently teaches that
“human life must be respected and protected absolutely from the moment of conception.”
In January 1973 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on the legality of abortion in its famous Roe v. Wade decision. The majority on the court ruled that a woman
could not be denied her “right to privacy,” which includes a right to abortion.
True
13 year old can get an abortion without parental consent up to approx 6 months (2nd trimester) (Planned Parenthood)
The terms _________ can indicate in the vocabulary of biology successive stages of the development of a human being.”
zygote, pre-embryo, embryo, and fetus
The first recorded murder in history?
Cain and Abel (Genesis 4)
“You shall not kill” (Ex 20:13) “You shall not kill” (Dt 5:17)
The Ten Commandments:
In 1968, Pope Paul VI wrote a famous ENCYCLICAL LETTER called
HUMANAE VITAE (Of Human Life)
In his encyclical letter, _________ Pope John Paul II describes procured abortion as “the deliberate and direct killing, by whatever means it is carried out, of a human being in the initial phase of his or her existence, extending from conception to birth (#58).
The gospel of life
Abortion is a direct taking of
innocent human life, an act of injustice to the newly developing life (#13).
The Church also recognizes that there are many motives for procuring an abortion, such as
protection of the mother’s health, the welfare of other family members, and even the belief that the new child should not be born into a desperate situation
Since the first century the Church has affirmed the moral evil of
Every procured abortion
A person who procures a completed abortion incurs
excommunication latae sententiae,"76 "by the very commission of the offense,"
Note
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