Bioethics of Abortion and Artificial Procreation

Abortion: Definitions and Ethical Perspectives

Abortion is the removal of a human being before it can live outside the maternal womb. It can be spontaneous or induced (naturally or through voluntary action). It is given different names based on the context:

• Therapeutic: Performed for medical reasons.
• Eugenic: Performed due to malformation of the fetus.
• Humanitarian: Performed when the cause is a violation (i.e., ethical).
• Psychological: Performed when claiming the mother's psychological problems, adverse economic circumstances, etc.

This is not a problem of a particular religious or moral group; it is a human business, a social and ethical question of natural law. Among the scientific consensus, the belief exists that at the moment of conception, human life begins. This conceived being is a human being entitled to live; the mother has no right over the child's life, as it is not a "part" of her body. The person who aborts is punishable by excommunication.

Artificial Procreation and Bioethical Concerns

Artificial procreation refers to techniques that allow for the conception of a human being in a way different from the natural union of man and woman. Fertilization in vitro (IVF and ET) may be:

• Homologous: Using the husband's semen.
• Heterologous: Using the semen of another man.

Artificial insemination is the introduction of male gametes into the uterus using clinical methods. There is no "right to have children" (having them by any means), because it is considered immoral to dissociate procreation from the conjugal act, introducing a mastery of technique over the origin and destiny of the human person. Heterologous insemination, when practiced, damages the unborn child's right to a mother and a father who are known and related through marriage.

The Status and Treatment of Human Embryos

The Instruction on Respect for Human Life (ISD) teaches that "the human embryo deserves respect as a human person." It is not a "thing," nor a mere aggregate of living cells. Therefore, it is not lawful to take their lives or do anything with them that does not serve their own benefit. With artificial procreation techniques, "surplus embryos" are produced, which are then discarded or frozen to be manipulated (destroyed or cloned). These actions are considered immoral and antisocial.

Ethical Concerns Regarding Therapeutic Cloning

Therapeutic cloning is contrary to the dignity of the person because it has the aggravating factor of conceiving a person with the intention of being handled and used as biological waste. The medium used—manipulating a man to obtain biological material for testing new therapies, thereby killing that human—contradicts the purpose of saving life (curing disease) for other human beings.