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Regarding the Instruction Dignitas PersonaeAim In recent years, biomedical research has made great strides, opening new possibilities for the treatment of disease, but also giving rise to serious questions which had not been directly treated in the Instruction Donum vitae (22 February 1987).  A new Instruction, which is dated 8 September 2008, the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, seeks to provide some responses to these new bioethical questions, as these have been the focus of expectations and concerns in large sectors of society.  In this way, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith seeks both...

This week’s article for National Catholic Register explores the seismic upheaval that has been the bio tech revolution. We seem blind to the fact that we are living in the midst of the most astounding technological revolution the world has ever seen. Biotechnology is the umbrella term for all the advances we have made in medical know-how, and reproductive technology is the most socially revolutionary subdivision of biotechnology. To put it simply, we no longer approach the transmission of human life as a sacred mystery — but, rather, have reduced it to the status of a baby-making machine that we’ve learned how...

He was good on paper: Eloquent, mature, healthy and smart to boot. That's why Angela Collins and Margaret Elizabeth Hanson say they chose Donor 9623 to be the biological father of their child. Then last June, almost seven years after Collins gave birth to a son conceived with his sperm, they got a batch of emails from the sperm bank that unexpectedly — and perhaps mistakenly — included the donor's name. That set them on a sleuthing mission that quickly revealed he is schizophrenic, dropped out of college and had been arrested for burglary, they said in a lawsuit filed...

A 65 year old German lady has told German newspaper Bild that she’s expecting quadruplets. This news story is the talk of the day in Europe. There are those who believe it’s a reason to celebrate, while others have a slightly different opinion. See for instance this tweet from a Dutch Twitter-user: Translation: “A women of 65 years old pregnant with quadruplets. This is loathsome. Incredibly egotistical.” Her argument is that the mother is a) too old to take care of one new baby let alone four, and b) that she’s basically nearing the end of her life thereby making...

In the United Kingdom, Ellen Brown was asked by her mom, Jenny Dias, and stepdad Tony to act as surrogates so they could have a baby. In 1990, Jenny split from Ellen’s dad and met Tony two years later. She informed him that she underwent a hysterectomy and couldn’t have any more children. Jenny said, “Tony accepted it very well and wanted our relationship more than children.”However, as their wedding day grew closer they discussed surrogacy. Jenny said, “I wanted to be genetically connected to Tony’s offspring — so I didn’t want to do it with anyone but Ellen.”...

International surrogacy is often touted as a win-win situation. Western couples get a baby gestated for them at a low price, and the women in third world countries get more money than they would normally see in a lifetime. But all we rich western countries have to do is look a tad bit closer and the whole facade falls apart. The women are exploited by signing contracts they cannot read, are kept under lock and key, forced to deliver by cesarean section, and then not paid the full amount they are promised. Some women die. Many of the contracting...

Our health, a precise equilibrium, may be disrupted by any disease at any given time. Scientific progress has moved beyond the realm of diagnoses and care of disease, and has now entered the new arena of prediction and prevention while still in the embryonic stage of life, in spite of unknown factors and risks. With the advancing technology comes challenges of safety and efficacy, along with ethical and social considerations. The 3-parent embryo or mitochondrial transfer technology ultimately raises one of the greatest questions we will perhaps ever face as voting Catholics. Are we willing to genetically modify humans on...

This past week has seen the outrage generated by parents of donor and invitro-fertilization children following a now-infamous Panorama magazine interview conducted with the fashion designers Dolce & Gabbana, wherein Domenico Dolce proclaimed, “You are born to a mother and a father — or at least that’s how it should be. I call children of chemistry, synthetic children.” Immediately, Elton John advocated a boycott of the designers’ products in retaliation for the perceived offense against his two sons, who were conceived via an egg donor and surrogate mother. Speaking as two donor-conceived young women—alive because of reproductive technologies—we felt an...

Fashion designers Domenico Dolce, right, and Stefano Gabbana are facing criticism after Dolce's comments about "synthetic babies" drew the ire of many and prompted Elton John to call for a boycott of their designs. Fashion designers Domenico Dolce, right, and Stefano Gabbana are facing criticism after Dolce's comments about "synthetic babies" drew the ire of many and prompted Elton John to call for a boycott of their designs. By The Rev. Dwight Longenecker Italian fashion designers Dolce&Gabbana waded into a gay rights hurricane last week by criticizing same sex marriage and “designer babies.” The storm started when Stefano Gabbana...

A screen shot of the website of the Italian fashion house Dolce and Gabbana, which states, "The family is our point of reference" (www.dolcegabbana.com/dgfamily/) One of the world's most famous and prestigious fashion houses has come under barrage of harsh and angry attacks after stating to the Italian press that, "The only family is the traditional one." Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana of the Italian fashion house Dolce and Gabbana are themselves gay men. All the more surprising, then, that other high profile homosexuals should create a social media tsunami against the pair. Elton John, the English singer and...

At a time when more and more people are becoming wary of generically-modified foods in their diet, the United Kingdom is poised to begin creating genetically-modified children with the genetic material of three people, two women and one man; a genetic combination that could not occur naturally.And the way the UK goes, the United States may soon  follow.The average person may feel totally overwhelmed by the science and helpless to do anything about it. Unfortunately, we cannot stick our heads in the sand and do nothing. If we ignore this problem it will not go away. If we stay silent...

Bishop Sherrington condemned the move Bishop John Sherrington says the Church remains opposed to procedures where the destruction of human embryos is part of the process The Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales has condemned the House of Commons decision to vote in favour of legalising three-parent children.Auxiliary Bishop John Sherrington of Westminster issued a statement on behalf of the bishops, stating that “Whilst the Church recognises the suffering that mitochondrial diseases bring and hopes that alternative methods of treatment can be found, it remains opposed on principle to these procedures where the destruction of human embryos is part...

FULL TITLE: White lesbian mother sues sperm bank after she gave birth to mixed-race baby because she was sent black man's sperm A white lesbian mother is suing a Chicago sperm bank after she claims she was mistakenly sent a black man's sperm and gave birth to a mixed-race daughter. Jennifer Cramblett, 36, claims the mistake has caused her stress and anguish because her family is racist and she lives in a small, all-white Uniontown in northeast Ohio. In a lawsuit filed this week in Cook County, Illinois, Ms Cramblett says Midwest Sperm Bank sent her several vials of a...

White couple sues, says sperm bank gave vials from black donor By Meredith Rodriguez, Tribune reporter contact the reporter A white Ohio woman is suing a Downers Grove-based sperm bank, alleging that the company mistakenly gave her vials from an African-American donor, a fact that she said has made it difficult for her and her same-sex partner to raise their now 2-year-old daughter in an all-white community. Jennifer Cramblett of Uniontown, Ohio, alleges in the lawsuit filed Monday in Cook County Circuit Court, that Midwest Sperm Bank sent her the vials of an African American donor's sperm in September 2011...

Remember the sci-fi thriller GATTACA? For those who never saw the film and/or eschewed all pop culture in the late 90's for some reason, it was a popular movie that came out in 1997 about genetically modified human beings. Now some literally genetically modified human babies born that same year are entering their senior year of high school.

My Latin is not what it once was and it was never much. So lately I have been making amends for schoolboy sloth by reading a few of the classics. I have just finished (in translation) and highly recommend The Annals of Imperial Rome, by Tacitus, which chronicles the years of Tiberius, Claudius, Caligula and Nero, (an) analysis of palace politics. Whoa! Excuse me: just where is all this going? Is this relevant to anything at all or is it just self-indulgent bloviation? Well, sort of. Be patient. Let me press on. It was a bit dismaying to read how...

There’s an old saying in Latin: Omni trinum perfectum (all things are perfect in threes). It is a saying that emerges from the Trinitarian Theology but is meant somewhat playfully.  The other day, however, something was announced that definitely is not perfect in threes. A frightening piece in the BBC News describes three where there should be two, or, two’s company but three’s an unnatural crowd. Here are some excerpts from the original article along with my comments in plain red text. The full article is available here: Three’s a Crowd! A public review into the three person IVF technique has been broadly supportive, says the Department of Health. In...

A year ago The View co-host Sherri Shepherd announced she and her husband Lamar Sally were going to have a baby using a surrogate. The procedure was to use Shepherd’s eggs and the womb of a stranger. Shepherd said at the time that she had found “a drama-free uterus” and that “we’re putting in our eggs and Sal’s sperm and we’ll let you know how it progresses.” It turns out not to have progressed very well either for a baby or for the marriage. TMZ reported this week that Shepherd’s eggs and Sally’s sperm did not work and that she...

It saddens me to know couples in their late thirties trying unsuccessfully to conceive. The notion that it is easy to conceive at any age under 40—and perhaps beyond that—has taken firm, but mistaken, hold in our culture. The American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology recently published a meta-analysis concluding that women’s fertility begins to drop significantly at 32 and drops rapidly at 37. This study reaffirms a similar 2008 statement by the American Society for Reproductive Medicine.Most have not heard of these studies. Many who know the general concept discount it. The broad postponement of parenthood rests on...

Karla and Jacob began dating in 2009 when they were 42 and 32 years old, respectively. After Karla was diagnosed with lymphoma, and “despite neither of them thinking the relationship had long-term prospects,” both agreed to have human embryos created from their gametes. These were frozen for later use because treatment would, unfortunately, destroy Karla’s fertility. Their relationship was short-lived, yet, Karla’s only chance of giving birth to her own genetic children remained the use of the frozen progeny resulting from this relationship.Jacob objected and the two went to court. This May, the Illinois judge ruled that Karla can...