News Item: : Post-Christian Dystopia - British MPs Vote Today on 3-Parent Babies
(Category: Torch of The Faith News)
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Tuesday 03 February 2015 - 10:56:03

British MPs will debate and vote today on whether to amend the Human Fertilization and Embryology Act (2008), regarding the legalization of Mitochondrial DNA Transfer. 

Oocyte modification - Three-Parent IVF in popular parlance - involves the removal of damaged mitochondrial DNA from a woman's eggs, and its replacement with healthy DNA from another female donor. Those pushing for this procedure to be legalized contend that it will help to eradicate the rare incidences of mitochondrial disease in children. Let it be known and understood at this point that the procedure would not help any existing person who presently suffers from this condition. The science aims rather to produce children who would be genetically related to their birth mother, but free from inheriting this genetical condition from those who carry it.

As we understand the issue, this attempt to 'create' human embryos using the DNA from three parents is a grave affront to God, Who has created us in His image and likeness. It should be apparent, even to those who claim not to have any faith, that these developments would represent a radical alteration to human nature. The pursual of so-called 'Pro-Nuclear Transfer techniques' also involves the destruction of two human embryos for every single 'genetically-modified' embryo. As with all forms of IVF, these techniques not only destroy new life, they also commodify it; embryos are not conceived in a unitive act of procreation, but manipulated to order in a laboratory. 

It should also be noted that the legalization of such processes would open the door to many other kinds of experimentation in embryology and the very real spectre of 'designer-babies'. We also note that the procedure would facilitate the social acceptance of lesbian women being allowed to develop babies with a share of both their DNA - thus further undermining the natural order of procreation in marriage.

In light of all these concerns we must pray today. MPs will begin debating the legalization in the House of Commons at 3pm this afternoon, prior to voting on the issue.

The Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales has made a statement against the procedure through Bishop John Sherrington, in his position as representative of the Department for Christian Responsibility and Citizenship.

Whilst it is good to see the statement raising ethical concerns and defending the right of every human embryo to life and protection, the statement restricts itself by neglecting to affirm the Divine and Natural Law. And whilst a bold-type paragraph, towards the conclusion, calls each individual MP to take responsibility for the decisions they will make today, it appears to express this in the sense of an 'informed choice' rather than one made in light of objective moral law, a developed conscience or spiritual/temporal consequences. Indeed, it thus appears to us to relativize the ethical concerns which it does make. Here is the actual bold-typed statement: 'Each MP must consider whether he or she has confidence that replacement of nuclear DNA has been shown to be effective and safe, and each must take responsibility for this decision.' It will, of course, never be safe for the embryos destroyed in such procedures. A concluding paragraph entitled 'Other important ethical issues' does point out the destruction of human embryos which would be involved. Perhaps the most problematic part of the statement is the fact that, rather than condemning the procedure outright, it weakly suggests: 'This is a very serious step which Parliament should not rush into taking.' When one considers the numbers of embryos that will be destroyed, it becomes clear that this is a remarkably andoyne line to take. For example, if MPs were to vote about destructive experiments on persons already born, would the bishops make such a middle-of-the-road suggestion? 

At this point, it is perhaps worth calling to mind the fact that each bishop is Christ's representative in his own diocese. It would be much more effective if, rather than leaving it to a single bishop to represent the entire Conference, every bishop made an individual public statement as to why the procedure is wrong. This would both teach the faithful in every diocese and provide a louder voice in society. We have seen a good example of this working effectively just this week, with Bishop Mark Davies and Bishop Mark O'Toole both speaking out clearly against the misrepresentation of St. Thomas More in the TV-drama 'Wolf Hall'.

It was Pope Benedict XVI, (then as Cardinal Ratzinger), who reminded the Church in The Ratzinger Report (1985) - that, although episcopal conferences can be a good way to help individual bishops to speak out, they can, on the other hand, become so bureaucratic that they actually smother individual voices. As such, he pointed out: 'We must not forget that the episcopal conferences have no theological basis, they do not belong to the structure of the Church, as willed by Christ, that cannot be eliminated; they have only a practical, concrete function.'

Although Pope Francis has called for greater autonomy for episcopal conferences, it is to be hoped that the Church hierarchy will reflect further on these issues. Indeed, the challenges raised by such technological developments should be urgently engaged at the Rome Synod on marriage and family.

Today British MPs will vote on whether or not to legalize a procedure which, in ignoring God and the order of His creation, would represent one of the most radical alterations to human nature imaginable. It would also destroy countless human embryos, open the door to the further commodification of human-life and to lesbian parenting. To all this the Bishops of England and Wales have raised merely a restricted press-release.

Please pray today.

 

Our Lady of Walsingham, Queen of Heaven and Earth - Pray for us!   

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