Diagnosing the Vatican 'Instruction'
Harvey, John Collins
M Diagnosing th« Vatican 'Instruct!) arvelous advances m molecular 1 ogy and medical practice...
...24 April 1987: 239...
...Human search and discovery find deeper insights into the workings of nature...
...meaning from the unitive meaning in mars|r Thecondemnation of artificial contraception by Pope ^j?aul VI in ia& encyclical Humanae Vitae was made be|$Bise artificial contraception deliberately deprives the -%nju$i...
...k Medical science has developed a technigu^W,, come a certain type of sterility in married couples §j cally when the oviducts of the wife are'lotJlHx 6b$iro| by a disease process or are entirely missing as a r€8ull| congenital malformation...
...The plea of this physician is that the theologians will look again at the discoveries and new insights into nature made by medical scientists , which, if applied to the human condition, will alleviate " human suffering which heretofore was not relievable and ; curable...
...arvelous advances m molecular 1 ogy and medical practice have changed our con'cept|"| biological life in the same fashion that the* brillianfW vances in astronomy have changed our* concepts •Off* cosmos...
...M The Vatican "Instruction on Respect for Human Life in jlfljs Origin and on the Dignity of Procreation" indicates jOnai such fertilisation is in itself illicit and in opposition to iMie- dignity of procreation and of the conjugal union even jS&hen everything is done to avoid the death of the human ^fflbryo...
...This process is called ini vitro feftilM or IVF...
...Certainly in the totality of marriage union the mutual giving of one to another in rej$|>resentinthe marriage...
...John Collins Harvey is professor of medicine at Georgetown University, a scholar at the Kennedy Institute of Ethics, and secretary of the International Study Group on Bioethics of the International Federation of Catholic Universities...
...In light of these new abilities and understandings, * theologians must reflect whether what was considered under older theological paradigms to be illicit is now in fact and actuality theologically licit, JOHN COLLINS HARVEY, M.D...
...Mutual love ia expressed in the grave suffer"&( the wife in the harvesting of her eggs and in the randiu the production of his sperm...
...It would appear the moral evaluation of the physical act should be is regard to its intentionality, as was the case in manae Vita6...
...JiNhe Intention is quite different for the married couple alefctag IVF to create new life...
...The fertilized eggs may then be ttans£esjietfl^E| 238: Commonweal Ipte wife'$ wosftb and can proceed to develop as a normal pf^regnancy, a process known as embryo transfer or ET...
...The role of the physician is to apply the&ibte ical and medical advances to the clinical situation,) cure of disease, and if such is not feasible, cojirfort,*$J and relief from suffering, both physical and mental,' is entirely consistent with the dignity of the human 1 and the roie of the physician...
...Just as Jesus f»eale<f|tij earthly ministry, so the physician must heal in ijjsivi vocational calling...
...Even the "Instruction" paradoxically admits that the child who is a product of IVF and ET must still be considered a "gift from God...
...The procreation is within « grtarrisge...
...In other words, right reason finds and explicates what has been hidden and unknown in God's good creation...
...New medical discoveries and methodologies can be utilized to relieve suffering and are mediated by the physician as gifts of a loving Creator...
...The argument is that this procedure separates the ^ feocreative...
...Eggs can be harvested ftpjj ovaries of the wife under certain conditions and nlaf fertilized in vitro by the sperm of the husband, obtainldl masturbation...
...fj|eientifie medical paradigms, as well as theological paradigms, change...
...ac^of its openness to procreation and thus disjakociates the goods and meanings of marriage...
...Catholic physicians like myself will take seriously the authentic magisterial teaching of the "Instruction" in obedience to Jesus the healer...
Vol. 114 • April 1987 • No. 8
