The Window
on May 22, 2005
A Catholic Look at Society, Culture and Politics

Deal W. Hudson


In This Issue:

Misled Catholic in Massachusetts Legislature
 

Dan Bosley is a Catholic and a State Representative in Massachusetts. One of his constituents sent Rep. Bosley last week's Window, "Does Life Begin at Implantation?"

His lengthy and thoughtful email reply reveals why Bosley and other Catholics in the Massachusetts Legislature are supporting a bill to allow human cloning, scientific research on fetal tissue, and a new legal definition of human life as commencing with implantation.

Rep. Bosley agrees that "life begins at conception." However, he adds, "Conception begins the fourteenth day after fertilization. It also cannot begin until implantation."

Most people are impatient with definitions. Their eyes glaze over when precise meanings are attached to key words. Bosley's characterization of conception should be a warning sign that the Catholic definition of human life is in trouble in Massachusetts.

The Church teaches that life begins at conception and does not make any distinction between fertilization and conception. They are the same.

The United States Conference of Bishops has warned us about the "manipulation of terms." In debate over the "morning-after pill", the bishops pointed out that medical groups such as the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) had supported pro-abortion groups in changing the definition of conception. "Instead of equating conception with fertilization, and seeing a woman as pregnant if her body contains a living, developing embryo, they equate "conception" and "pregnancy" with the implantation of the embryo in the uterus 6 to 10 days later" (October, 1998).

Even though the medical community changed its definition of conception only a few years ago, Bosley charges the Church with inconsistency. "The Catholic Church has changed their position from life beginning at conception to fertilization and has misled people in their efforts to stop this effort."

The Church, in fact, has never changed its position. Perhaps Bosley has been misled about the history of Church teaching on the soul, as indicated by the next statement from his email.

"Even the Catholic church has stated that ensoulement [sic] doesn't begin until the tenth day. Since stem cells are taken prior to this, usually on the sixth or seventh day, how can this be life?"

This myth about Catholic teaching has been used by pro-abortion leaders for decades to prove that the Church has been inconsistent in its teaching about abortion.

The immortal human soul is present from the moment of conception. On this the Catechism is explicit, "Endowed with a spiritual soul, with intellect and with free will, the human person is from his very conception ordered to God and destined for eternal beatitude. He pursues his perfection in 'seeking and loving what is true and good'" (#1711).

Even though theologians like St. Thomas Aquinas speculated on a theory of ensoulment that took place over time, beginning with conception, it has never become Church doctrine. Since Aquinas strongly opposed abortion, he certainly cannot be put in Bosley's corner on this issue.

Bosley concludes, "By any of these standards, these embryos are living cells, but are not life."

The doctrinal standard for every Catholic is the Catechism of the Catholic Church. I suggest Rep. Bosley read where it states, "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" (#2274).

Also, "Human life must be respected and protected absolutely from the moment of conception. From the first moment of his existence, a human being must be recognized as having the rights of a person -- among which is the inviolable right of every innocent being to life" (#2270).

Bosley either does not know or he rejects these teachings. He adds to his defense of embryonic research by saying, "Yes, we all came from embryos, but not all embryos become life."

This is like saying that since some children never reach adolescence we can use their body parts for medical research.

Then Bosley turns to the argument of utility: "We have an opportunity to solve some of the toughest and debilitating diseases known to man by using embryonic stem cell research."

This is the classic argument from eugenics, the same logic used by Nazis to justify their experimentation on concentration camp prisoners ... If good can come from it, why can't we experiment on live human beings?

But, of course, Rep. Bosley has convinced himself that newly fertilized embryos are not human beings, and therefore no harm is being done to them.

He has followed the abortion industry by defining them out of their humanity.

"Concerning adult stem cells," Bosley writes, "these cells cannot dedifferentiate to the point where they can be used in many parts of the body, and the body runs the risk of rejection of these stem cells."

Yes, this is an overall concern about the therapeutic application of adult stem cells. But Bosley fails to mention the parallel concern about the unpredictable and erratic behavior of embryonic stem cells in scientific testing.

Then Bosley accuses the Church of heightening "everyone's fear of cloning by suggesting that we will clone human beings and will take embryos past the fourteen-day point and will grow human parts."

The United Nations, not exactly a bastion of pro- Church sentiment, has condemned cloning. The Church is not the only institution deeply worried about where an unrestrained biotech revolution will lead. Yes, the Massachusetts bill makes it a crime to destroy embryos past fourteen days. However, a precedent will be set that the artificial creation and destruction of human life is permissible for utilitarian reasons.

Indeed, most Americans don't buy his arguments. A poll released on May 19th by the Secretariat of
Pro-Life Activities at the USCCB showed that "over three-quarters of Americans oppose allowing researchers to clone human embryos for any purpose, either to provide children to infertile couples or to create embryos to be destroyed in medical research."

Bosley's last argument is familiar to all of us. "There are between 80-100 million people in this country that have diseases such as diabetes, Alzheimer's, MS, MD, Parkinson's, and others as well as countless people suffering from spinal cord and other nerve damage injuries. If God has given us the power to find cures for this, we must take those opportunities."

In other words, if we have the scientific ability to do something, we should do it. How many mad scientists in the horror movies have said this? Are there no ethical boundaries to science? Is destroying life to provide medical benefits ethical? The Church has affirmed that boundary consistently and with full knowledge of the scientific claims made by the biotech community.

The most telling parts of his letter are where Rep. Bosley claims it's the Church who misleads us. He doesn't seem to suspect that he is being misled by the ethical and scientific experts testifying before the Legislature.

Perhaps he was listening to Marjorie Clay, a medical ethicist at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, who testified before the legislature that embryos are not human beings. Clay went further to claim that these "cell groups" are not even embryos. "I think it is the scientific way to think about it," Clay said.

Rep. Bosley is suspicious of the Catholic teaching on the beginning of life. He accuses the Church of misleading its members. Yet he embraces the opinions of secular experts in science and ethics. This is at the heart of the problem with the Catholics in the Massachusetts Legislature. They don't know who is misleading them.

Note: I am on vacation this coming week, but I am working on a Window about the recent forced departure of Fr. Thomas Reese, S. J., from American magazine.

 


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