Catholic Bioethics and the Gift of Human Life: Celebrating the Beauty of Being

by May, William E.

• ISBN13: 9780879736835
• ISBN10: 0879736836
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2000-09-01
• Publisher: Our Sunday Visitor

Author Biography

William E. May is the Michael J. McGivney Professor of Moral Theology at the John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family

Table of Contents

Foreword by the Most Reverend William E. Lori, Auxiliary Bishop of Washington	13	(15)
Introduction	15	(4)
Church Teaching and Major Issues in Bioethics	19	(28)
John Paul ll's Encyclical Evangelium Vitae	20	(14)
``Present-Day Threats to Human Life''	20	(2)
``The Christian Message Concerning Life''	22	(2)
``God's Holy Law''	24	(6)
``For a New Culture of Human Life''	30	(4)
The Vatican Instruction on Respect for Human Life in Its Origin and on the Dignity of Procreation (Donum Vitae)	34	(5)
Introduction	34	(1)
Respect for Human Embryos	35	(1)
Interventions Upon Human Procreation	36	(2)
Moral Law and Civil Law	38	(1)
Declaration on Procured Abortion	39	(3)
The Declaration on Euthanasia	42	(5)
Introduction	42	(1)
The Value of Human Life	42	(1)
Euthanasia	43	(1)
The Meaning of Suffering for Christians and the Use of Painkillers	43	(1)
Due Proportion in the Use of Remedies	44	(1)
Conclusion to Chapter One	45	(1)
Endnotes for Chapter One	45	(2)
Making True Moral Judgments and Good Moral Choices	47	(18)
The Meaning of a ``Human Act''; Its Existential and Religious Significance; The Sources of Its Moral Character	48	(4)
The Meaning of a ``Human Act''	48	(1)
The Existential, Religious Significance of Human Acts as Freely Chosen	49	(1)
The Sources of the Morality of a Human Act	50	(2)
Kinds of Human Dignity; Human Freedom and God's Wise and Loving Plan for Human Existence	52	(3)
Kinds of Human Dignity	52	(2)
Human Freedom of Choice and God's Wise and Loving Plan for Human Existence	54	(1)
The Relationship Between the ``Good'' and Human Choices and Action; The First Principles of Natural Law	55	(2)
Normative Truths of Natural Law	57	(3)
Steps of Making True Moral Judgments	60	(1)
The ``Fulfilment'' or ``Perfection'' of Natural Law Through the Redemptive Work of Christ	61	(4)
Endnotes for Chapter Two	63	(2)
Generating Human Life: Marriage and The New Reproductive Technologies	65	(54)
Introduction	65	(1)
Fornication, Adultery, and the Generation of Human Life	66	(1)
Marriage and the Generation of Human Life	67	(4)
Marriage, Marital Rights and Capacities	67	(1)
The Meaning of the Marital Act	68	(2)
``Begetting'' Human Life Through the Marital Act	70	(1)
Generating Human Life Through New Reproductive Technologies	71	(16)
The Teaching of Pius XII and the Pontifical Academy for Life	72	(1)
The New Reproductive Technologies	73	(6)
An Ethical and Theological Evaluation of the New Reproductive Technologies	79	(8)
``Assisted'' Insemination/Fertilization	87	(7)
Basic Criteria	87	(2)
Acknowledged Instances of Assisted Insemination of Fertilization	89	(1)
Controverted Technologies	90	(3)
Conclusion to Part Four; A Word About Fertility Drugs	93	(1)
``Rescuing'' Frozen Embryos	94	(25)
There Are No Morally Licit Ways of ``Rescuing'' Frozen Embryos	95	(6)
It Can Be Morally Licit for a Woman to Have a Frozen Embryo Transferred to Her Womb and Nurtured	101	(3)
Even Single Women Can Rightly Nurture and Bear Frozen Embryos	104	(3)
Conclusion to the ``Rescuing of Frozen Embryos''	107	(1)
Endnotes for Chapter Three	108	(11)
Contraception and Respect for Human Life	119	(32)
Introduction	119	(4)
Pope John Paul II on the Roots of the Culture of Death and Contraception's Relationship to It	123	(2)
Contraception vs. ``Recourse to the Rhythm of the Cycle'': Their Anthropological and Moral Differences, One Ultimately Entailing ``Irreconcilable Concepts of the Human Person and of Human Sexuality''	125	(9)
Contraception: Its Underlying Anthropology and Moral Methodology	125	(7)
Recourse to the Rhythm of the Cycle: Its Underlying Anthropology and Moral Methodology	132	(2)
Contraception: An Anti-Life Act	134	(3)
Contraception: Both Anti-Love and Anti-Life	137	(14)
Appendix: Preventing Conception When in Danger of Rape or After Rape	140	(2)
Endnotes for Chapter Four	142	(9)
Abortion and Human Life	151	(48)
Introduction: Structure of This Chapter	151	(1)
Resume and Clarification of Church Teaching	152	(4)
The Definition of Abortion	153	(1)
``Ensoulment'' or Infusion of the Immortal Soul	153	(1)
``Direct'' vs. ``Indirect'' Abortion	154	(2)
It is Reasonable to Believe that Most People Begin at Fertilization and Unreasonable to Deny This	156	(14)
Rejection of Opinions Denying This Truth
Personhood Requires Exercisable Cognitive Abilities	159	(3)
Personhood Depends on Sense Organs and a Brain: The ``Delayed Hominization'' Theory	162	(4)
Individual Personhood Cannot Be Established Before Implantation	166	(4)
The Special Moral Gravity of Abortion, a Woman's ``Right'' to Abortion, the Difference Between a ``Right'' and a ``Liberty''	170	(6)
The Unique Moral Gravity of Abortion	170	(2)
A Woman's ``Right'' to an Abortion	172	(2)
The Difference Between a ``Right'' and a ``Liberty''	174	(2)
Abortion as ``Removal'' vs. Abortion as ``Killing''	176	(6)
Lee's Analysis and Position	177	(2)
Critique	179	(3)
The Management of Ectopic Pregnancies	182	(17)
Ectopic Preganancies and Their Frequecy	182	(1)
Medically Available Procedures for Coping with Ectopic Pregancies	182	(1)
The Ethical and Religious Directives	183	(1)
Current Theological Debate Over Management of Tubal Pregancies	184	(2)
Conclusion to Chapter Five	186	(1)
Endonotes for Chapter Five	186	(13)
Experimentation on Human Subjects	199	(36)
Introduction: The Cardinal Principle of Free and Informed Consent	199	(6)
Basic Types of Experimentation	201	(1)
The Key Principle or ``Canon of Loyalty'': The Principle of Free and Informed Consent	201	(4)
Proxy Consent: Its Meaning, Justification, and Limits	205	(8)
Proxy Consent in the Therapeutic Situation	205	(1)
Proxy Consent in the Nontherapeutic Situation	206	(7)
Research on the Unborn, In Particular, Embryonic StemCell Research	213	(2)
What Are Human Embryonic Stem Cells and Why Are They Used for Research?	214	(1)
Legitimate Sources of Stem Cells for Research	215	(1)
Genetic Therapy	215	(5)
Gene Therapy: Its Definition and Types	215	(1)
How Gene Therapy ``Works''	216	(1)
Strategies for Gene Therapy	217	(1)
Delivering Therapeutic Genes	218	(1)
The Morality of Somatic Cell Gene Therapy	218	(1)
Germ-line ``Therapy''	219	(1)
Prenatal and Pre-Implantation Screening	220	(4)
Prenatal Diagnosis and Screnning	220	(3)
Pre-implantation Diagnosis and Screening	223	(1)
Genetic Counseling	224	(3)
The Human Genome Project	227	(8)
Endnotes for Chapter Six	228	(7)
Euthanasia, Assisted Suicide, and Care of the Dying	235	(48)
The Contemporary Movement for Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide	235	(3)
Clarifying the Terminology	238	(2)
The ``Ethics of Euthanasia''	240	(6)
Voluntary Active Euthanasia	240	(3)
Nonvoluntary Euthanasia	243	(2)
The Legal or Jurisprudential Issue	245	(1)
Summary and Conclusion: The ``Ethics of Euthanasia''	246	(1)
Critique of the ``Ethics of Euthanasia''	246	(6)
Autonomy and Voluntary Euthanasia vs. the Sanctity of Life	247	(2)
``Quality of Life'' Judgments and Justice	249	(1)
Dualism and Euthanasia	250	(1)
Voluntary Active Euthanasia and the Law	251	(1)
The ``Ethics of Benemortasia''	252	(11)
The Intrinsic Good of Human Life and the Evil of Intentional Killing	252	(2)
Criteria for Distinguishing Between ``Ordinary'' (``Proportionate'') and ``Extraordinary'' (``Disproportionate'') Treatments	254	(8)
Summary: The Presuppositions of the ``Ethics of Benemortasia''	262	(1)
Caring for the Permanently Unconscious and Persons in the ``Persistent Vegetative State''	263	(7)
Description of ``Persistent Vegetative State''	263	(1)
Recommendations by Professional Bodies, etc.: PVS Patients, Consciousness, and Pain	264	(2)
Responses by U.S. Biships	266	(1)
The Theological Position That Providing Tubal Feeding to PVS Patients Is Futile and Unduly Burdensome	267	(1)
The Theological Position Claiming That Tubal Feeding of PVS Patients is Obligatory	268	(2)
Advance Directives	270	(13)
The Living Will	270	(1)
The Durable Power of Attorney	270	(3)
Endnotes for Chapter Seven	273	(10)
Defining Death and Organ Transplantation	283	(34)
Introduction	283	(2)
Procedure	285	(1)
Pope John Paul II on Death	286	(3)
The Value of Human Life, Including Bodily Life	286	(1)
The Meaning of Death	287	(1)
Human Death and Organ Transplants	288	(1)
The Conclusions of the ``Working Group'' of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences	289	(2)
The Clinical Definition of Death	289	(1)
Clinical Indications That Death Has Occurred	290	(1)
Artificial Prolongation of Organ Functions	290	(1)
The Rationale for Identifying ``Brain Death'' With Human Death	291	(3)
Historical Background	291	(1)
The Consensus on ``Brain Death'': The Report of the President's Commission	292	(1)
The Presuppositions Underlying This Consensus	293	(1)
D. Alan Shewmon's Challenge to ``Brain Death''	294	(12)
Evidence Challenging the Claim That the Brain Is the Central Integrating Organ of the Whole Body	295	(2)
Criteria for Determining the ``Integrative Unity'' of the Human Body	297	(1)
New Criteria for Determining That Death Has Occurred	298	(1)
A Suggested Protocol for Organ Transplants From the ``Brain-Dead''	299	(3)
Responses to Shewmon's Critique of ``Brain Death''	302	(3)
Conclusion: Retrieving Organs From Persons Declared Brain-Dead	305	(1)
Organ Donation From the Living (Inter Vivos)	306	(11)
Endnotes for Chapter Eight	310	(7)
Bibliography and Resources	317	(6)
Index	323