Allen Dressen at https://medicalxpress.com
– FAUSTO GOMEZ OP
After discussing reproductive cloning, we study therapeutic cloning in from the ethical and theological perspectives. The main ethical concern, in this case, is the source of stem cells for therapy or research.
ETHICS OF THERAPEUTIC CLONING
Therapeutic embryonic human cloning, which uses stem cells from embryos that are destroyed in the process, is against the right to life of the conceptus. The right to life is the right to live from the moment of conception to natural death. The kind of research that advances “through the suppression of human lives that are equal in dignity to the lives of other human individuals and to the lives of the researchers themselves [is immoral]… It is gravely immoral to sacrifice a human life for therapeutic ends” (Dignitas Personae). One cannot do evil to attain good (cf Rom 3:8). We may never kill another to use him/her as a means to possibly heal other human beings: the end (good) does not justify the means (evil).
Once the ovum is fertilized, conception begins, and development and maturation follow. Like every other human individual, the cloned human embryos have full anthropological and ethical status, including fundamentally the inviolable right to life. To create embryos with the intention of manipulating and destroying them in the process, even with the good intention of helping the sick, is completely incompatible with human dignity, because it makes the existence of a human being at the embryonic stage nothing more than a means to be used and destroyed. Hence, experimentation with human embryos derived from their destruction “can never be licit either as an end in itself or as a means to a good end” (John Paul II, Evangelium Vitae).
Embryonic stem cell cloning amounts to abortion of the baby: “The direct interruption of the generative process already begun and, above all, directly willed and procured abortions, even if for therapeutic reasons, are to be absolutely excluded” (Paul VI, Humanae Vitae).
Although legally accepted in many countries, this kind of experimentation with human embryos is indeed morally evil: in these cases, the human embryo is merely considered as “biological material,” when in fact he or she is “a new individual of the human species” (Benedict XVI). Destroying embryos for research is not, obviously, life-saving, but the application of the death penalty to a totally defenseless individual human being.
If the source of stem cells for therapeutic cloning is the umbilical cord of the newly born, then there is no destruction of life and therefore it is ethical and has great potential in regenerative medicine. Likewise, the use of cells coming from fetuses who died from natural causes (cf. Dignitas Personae).
Therapeutic adult cloning is ethical and commendable as long as it respects human life, the principles of human dignity and justice, and proportionality between risks and benefits. Writes Pope Benedict XVI: “Somatic stem-cell research also deserved approval and encouragement when it felicitously combines scientific knowledge, the most advanced technology in the biological field and ethics that postulates respect for the human being at every stage of his or her existence. The prospects opened by this new chapter in research are fascinating in themselves for they give a glimpse of the possible cure of generative tissue diseases that consequently threaten those affected with disability and death.”
The anthropological and ethical bottom line: the nature of the human person ought to be respected always, that is, the human person as an individual of body-soul, a rational, emotional, social and spiritual being. Philosopher Seneca says: Res sacra homo – “the human person is a sacred thing.”
THERAPEUTIC CLONING AND CHRISTIAN FAITH
How do we evaluate human therapeutic cloning from the perspective of our Christian faith, of theological ethics?
Embryonic therapeutic cloning is against the right to life of all unborn children. From a humanist and Christian ethical point of view, embryonic therapeutic cloning is unethical. From the moment of conception, every embryo, including one in a test-tube (in vitro), must be treated as a human person and, therefore, his inalienable right to life must be respected from the beginning, that is, from fertilization: “Human life is sacred: from its very inception it reveals the creating hand of God” (John Paul II).
Considering that therapeutic embryonic cloning is from the point of reason and faith against the right to life of the human embryo, the teaching of the Church recommends embryonic stem cells that do not imply the destruction of the embryo. In this regard, therapeutic cloning from umbilical cord – already a reality – is ethically correct and commendable, as long as it respect the corresponding ethical principles, including, human dignity and rights, justice and equality, and solidarity and compassion.
Moreover, adult therapeutic cloning is encouraged also by the Magisterium of the Church: “The Church does not hesitate to approve somatic stem-cell research: not only because of the favorable results obtained through these alternative methods, but more importantly because they harmonize with the aforementioned intent by respecting the life of the human being at every stage of his or her existence” (Benedict XVI).
A word on human hybrid cloning. Ethics and faith tell us that it is ethically wrong: “In the case of so-called hybrid cloning, in which animal oocytes are used to reprogram human somatic cells, there is further offense against the dignity of human beings on account of the admixture of human and animal genetic elements capable of disrupting the specific identity of man” (Dignitas Personae). An expert on the matter writes that the production of hybrids is “a monstrous act against human dignity” (E. Sgreccia). The teaching of the Church based on Sacred Scripture and Christian tradition states: “Attempts or plans for fertilization between human and animal gametes [ova and sperm] and the gestation of human embryos in the uterus of animals… are contrary to the human dignity proper to the embryo …” (Donum Vitae). Hybrids: animals or human persons? But, of course: if hybrids be human, then their destruction is wholly immoral.
BY WAY OF CONCLUSION: PROMOTING LIFE
Based on Christian faith and tradition, the Catholic Church is in favor of scientific and technological developments that humanize life, and are ethical. The teaching of the Church advocates positive and hopeful technical research and biomedical interventions geared towards the true well-being and development of all human beings, our brothers and sisters.
While respecting other different voices and listening to them in a true dialogue, we Christians in particular firmly defend and promote human life – born and unborn, healthy and vulnerable – from the moment of conception to natural death. We strongly believe that God is the Lord of life, and every human being – born as well as unborn – is a son or daughter of God the Father and Creator. We humans are God’s stewards and ought not interfere or destroy nature and the laws of human nature, including sexual relations, procreation, marriage and family. Followers of Christ try hard to practice the truth in love. No individual should be the clone of another. Each one of us is a unique and unrepeatable human being with equal human dignity and inviolable fundamental rights. He and she are the divine image of God One and Triune.
Let us close our discourse on human cloning with God’s words to prophet Isaiah: “Can a woman forget the nursing child, or show no compassion for the child of her womb? If they may forget [some unfortunately do], yet I will not forget you” (Is 49:15).
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