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Death of Cardinal Alfonso López Trujillo
Pope Benedict has mourned the death on Saturday of Cardinal Alfonso López Trujillo, president of the Pontifical Council for the Family. Writing to the late cardinal's brother, the Pope mentioned his dedication to the gospel of life. [Zenit, 21 April] The funeral took place in St Peter's, Rome last week. [CNA on EWTN, 21 April] Patrick Buckley on behalf of ELN said "we add our voice to the expressions of sorrow at the death of this great and courageous defender of life from conception to natural death and defender of the natural family based on marriage". |
EU Vote for Organ Donor consent cards
Members of the European parliament have voted in support of a proposal for an EU-wide organ donor-consent card and telephone-based coordination centre. Only some EU countries have their own donor-card systems while Belgium, Denmark and Spain presume consent. It is claimed that there is a trade in illegally-traficked organs which the donor card could reduce. [BBC, 21 April] Mr Gordon Brown, the UK prime minister, wants to change the current system of organ donation so that people's consent is assumed unless they actively opt out. See SPUC-director blogspot (14th January 2008) |
Crisis Pregnancy Study
Women who start having sex young are more likely to have crisis-pregnancy. The Irish Study of Sexual Health and Relationships found that girls who lost their virginity in their early teens were 70% more likely to have such problems in adulthood, and three times more likely to have an abortion. The Crisis Pregnancy Agency, which commissioned the study, says it will promote delaying initial intercourse. [Evening Echo, 10 April] | |
| Greetings!
Today we report on the recent sad loss of Cardinal Alfonso López Trujillo, president of the Pontifical Council for the Family. We also report on the Irish Council of Bioethics decision to reccommend the destruction of human embryos for the production of stem cells | |
Irish Council for Bioethics wants to kill human embryos to obtain stem cells
The Irish Council for Bioethics in a new report concludes that embryonic research should be allowed in Ireland. The report "Ethical, Scientific and Legal Issues Concerning Stem Cell Research: Opinion", was published following a national public consultation, but chose to ignore the findings of its own consultation process in making its recommendations. The right to life is a fundamental right, superior to all positive law and should never be subjected to democratic decision making, yet when the Council tried to do so the results showed great public awareness of the issues and a determination to protect human life in its most vulnerable stage. There were over 2200 respondents to the public consultation, the vast majority of which were pro-life, 69%of the submissions declared conception to be the beginning of life while only 9.7% said implantation. Over 70% said neither so called "supernumerary embryos" nor imported embryonic stem cells should be used for research. Almost 77% rejected the idea of cloning embryos for the production of stem cells while over 81% rejected the production of animal-human hybrids for that purpose. The vast majority of respondents also said that adult stem cell research was their preferred method of producing stem cells. The council however ignored these findings in making its recommendation and came to the following conclusion. ''While accepting the value of human life demands that we hold significant respect for embryos, it also demands that we consider our obligations to care for humankind more generally. The council would, therefore, consider embryonic stem cell research to be acceptable in certain contexts."
We invite you to express your concerns to Mr Micheál Martin, Minister for Enterprise, Trade & Employment Department of Enterprise, Trade & Employment, 23 Kildare Street, Dublin 2. Telephone: +353 1 631 2172. LoCall: 1890 220 222. E-mail: Webmaster@entemp.ie or info@entemp.ie or An Taoiseach, Mr Bertie Ahern, Department of An Taoiseach, Government Buildings, Upper Merrion Street, Dublin 2. E-mail: taoiseach@taoiseach.gov.ie or: , webmaster@taoiseach.gov.ie Phone : +353 (0)1 619 4000 or +353 (0)1 6624888. Lo-Call Number: 1890 227 227. Fax: +353 (0)1 619 4258. Minister Mary Harney, Department of Health and Children, Hawkins House, Dublin 2. 01 6354000. Email: Minister's_Office@health.irlgov.ie or: info@health.gov.ie or: press_office@health.gov.ie |
Sex Selection Abortion
India's prime minister has called gender-based abortion a national shame. Mr Manmohan Singh, who has three daughters, has vowed to stop the practice which reportedly kills half a million girls a year. Female births are 80% those of boys. [Daily Mail, 28 April] Mr Singh's objection seems to be based on concerns about discrimination and demography, rather than on opposition to abortion per se. |
Comment on Irish Council of Bioethics report by Fr Kevin Doran of the Catholic Bishops' Committee for Bioethics.
Father Kevin Doran in an article in the Sunday Business Post April 27th argues against the report of the Irish Council for Bioethics, the Irish state bioethics advisory body which backed the use of embryos left over from in vitro fertilisation procedures for stem cell research. The idea of the Irish Council for Bioethics according to Fr Doran granting ''significant moral value'' to human embryos would be amusing if it were not so arrogant. The council said it was adopting ''a gradualist position, granting significant moral value, rather than full moral status, to human embryos''[...]''The moral value they are seen to possess is based on recognition of their potential to develop into persons, as well as the value they derive from representing human life in its earliest stages," the group said. Fr Doran told the Sunday Business post "The Catholic perspective is that the rights of the embryo derive from its nature and, in that sense, are human rights, the kind that would be described in some documents as self-evident. Such rights are not assigned or granted (as the report now suggests). The obligation to respect life begins at the point when individual human life begins - or even when there is a reasonable possibility that it may have begun. The underlying ethos of the council's opinion according to Fr Doran is predominantly utilitarian. In effect it says: ''We would prefer not to destroy embryos, but if it seems to serve a useful purpose, we will." "Crucially" Fr Doran says "the opinion of the Irish Council for Bioethics does not reflect the outcome of its public consultation. A huge majority of the public responses were opposed to research using embryonic stem cells, the generation of embryos specifically for research or the generation of hybrid human animal embryos."
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