OTTAWA – “Our future children”, an examination of the consequences of Bill C-47, was the theme of a seminar organized in April by the Catholic Women’s League of the Ottawa archdiocese. Bill C-47, which deals with human reproductive and genetic technologies, has generated wide debate since it came to light on the public agenda. Speakers addressing the issue included Reform MP Sharon [...]
The latest breakthrough in genetic engineering, the successful cloning of an adult mammal, carries with it the disturbing possibility that the same, or similar, techniques could be used to clone human beings. Even the secular press, e.g., The Globe and Mail, recognizes that this possibility has raised “the thorniest of ethical and philosophical questions.” These “Thorny questions,” however, along with the frightening [...]
Is there any reliable information about the numbers of human embryos that are frozen or used for experiments in Canada or elsewhere? K.A. Ottawa In Canada? No. There are, however, some statistics from Britain. Early this year, in answer to a question tabled in the House of Commons by David Alton, M.P., and a Parliamentary Written Answer revealed that 64,053 embryos had [...]
Interim special Reform party M.P. Sharon Hayes and St. Jerome's College philosophy professor Dr. Donald DeMarco are two central speakers at a seminar on reproductive technology and genetic engineering sponsored by the Catholic Women's League of the Ottawa archdiocese. The seminar, scheduled for April 22 at St. Augustine's Church in Ottawa, offers a Catholic perspective on these current social issues. Other speakers [...]
Is it true that the American Medical Association (AMA) has approved the removal of vital organs, e.g. the heart, from newborn anencephalic babies who are still alive? The AMA’s Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs has certainly recommended this action. Any organ transplant, but especially that of an unpaired organ such as the heart, demands very strict medical-legal rules. In the USA, [...]
Although there had been worldwide shock and dismay over the recent destruction in England of 3,300 (or more) abandoned embryos conceived through in-vitro fertilization (IVF), its pretty well open season on the tiny humans in Canada. There are currently no laws governing IVF in this country, thanks mainly to the reluctance of former federal Health Minister Diane Marleau to enact mandatory guidelines [...]
The destruction of human embryos in England can be seen as another case of reproductive technology outpacing the law. Research into in-vitro fertilization, while designed to help infertile couples, did not immediately take into account the moral and ethnical questions surrounding the treatment of “spare” embryos. Britain in fact, was a pioneering nation in the science of in-vitro fertilization, and perhaps it [...]
Although the rate of conception is very high with in-vitro fertilization (IVF), successful embryo transfer (ET) and implantation is much more difficult and is usually the stage at which the procedure fails. A fertility clinic often speaks of its high pregnancy rate, which usually refers to the chemical pregnancy in the fist few days, but the implantation rate is much lower, miscarriages [...]
On August 1st, in a move called “a pre-natural massacre” (Vatican’s newspaper L’Osservatore Romano) and “a new milestone for the culture of death” (Catholic World News), British scientists began the destruction of more than 3, 300 human embryos. An appeal was made to 900 couples whose frozen embryos were scheduled to be destroyed, when the five-year limit on their storage had run [...]
The recent destruction of more than 3,300 embryos by British fertility clinic technicians was a chilling reminder of the vulnerability of human life in its earliest stages of development. The incident also underscores how breakthroughs in the field of human reproductive technology are still running well ahead of legal and ethical constraints. It’s not surprising that Britain should be the first nation [...]
U.S. clerics are keeping up the heat on President Bill Clinton for his spring veto of a Congressional ban on partial-birth abortion. During a July 11 Mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City, Cardinal John O’Connor called on the Congress to override the Clinton veto. He also described partial-birth abortion as “infanticide.” The Mass was celebrated as part of the [...]
The Interim In yet another macabre example of unborn children being used for medical experiments, researchers at Stanford University in San Francisco plan to transplant fetal pancreas cells into 10 diabetics as a way of eliminating the need for insulin injections. The experiments, scheduled to start this summer, are said to offer help to more then a million North Americans with juvenile-onset [...]
The Interim Health minister David Dingwall announced June 5 that Canada is going to ban the sale of human sperm. The proposed bill, which will be tabled at the end of June, reads: “N person shall sell, purchase, barter or exchange sperm or offer to sell, purchase, barter or exchange sperm.” The measure will be a key part of the long awaited [...]
Sue Careless The Interim In the US donor insemination is offered as a commercial service and is worth $165 million a year. Regulation falls to individual states. It is thought that the long-awaited legislation on new reproductive technologies will also outlaw commercial contracts for surrogate mothers, ban prenatal diagnoses for sex-selection purposes, and lout the sale of human eggs, embryos, fetuses or [...]
I have been told that the Catholic Church rejects test-tube babies. Is this true? M. W. Montreal No, it is not true. In 1983, in their submission to the Warnock Committee, the Catholic Bishops of Britain were perfectly clear on the issue: The Church teaches that though in vitro fertilization (IVF) is wrong; the Catholic Church has always welcomed into the human [...]