Concerning Human Reproduction

Your Excellencies, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen, I wish to thank Dr Sr Catherine Bernard for the honour and privilege of speaking to you today concerning the topic of assisted reproductive technology, including cloning. I would like to begin with some very familiar passages from Genesis.

“Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image after our likeness.’ ” “So God created man in his own image. In the image of God He created him. Male and female he created them. And God blessed them and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and every living thing that moves upon the earth.’ ”

Does dominion mean custody, protection, preservation, restoration of order, care and love or does it mean devalue, manipulate, change, use and kill?

“And God saw everything that He had made and behold it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning and a sixth day passed.” [Genesis 1: 26, 27, 28, 31]

“After the creation of Eve the Lord God brought her to the man. Then the man said, ‘This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called woman because she was taken out of man.’ Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and cleaves to his wife and they become one flesh.” [Genesis 2: 22- 24] Here is the unmistakable instruction to man and wife to become one flesh in sexual intimacy, to reproduce their kind, to fulfil the command to be fruitful.

We read in Genesis of the beguilement by the devil with his delusions and promises with which he cheated mankind. And so they fell. And dreadful was their punishment. They were expelled from Eden.

After Adam and Eve had left the Garden of Eden we read in Genesis, "Now Adam knew Eve his wife and she conceived and bore Cain, saying 'I have gotten a man with the help of the Lord.’ ” They knew that the control over the coming into the world of that baby was not totally theirs. A man was gotten with the help of the Lord, each one unique, each one beloved, each one made in His image. Do we have the effrontery to change the Creator's design?

Man was not entirely bereft when he left Eden. Adam and Eve took with them their free will, their intellect and best of all their powerful human love. They had all the ingredients to choose for happiness. The struggle back to that perfection which was known in Eden has been beset by difficulties, many of them reminiscent of the original fall. Where pride, greed, desire for change, failure of duty and the desire to dominate and use have led us to the brink of disaster in modem times in regard to the fundamental welfare of humanity. This has been exemplified particularly in human reproduction where choice has even been extended to destruction of young human life.

From the birth of the first baby, Cain, the mother accepted the child. With the slaying of Abel by Cain, his brother, complete disrespect for human life entered the world. Dire was Cain's punishment. “The Lord said, 'What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood is crying to me from the ground.’ ” “And Cain said to the Lord, My punishment is greater than I can bear. ‘Behold, thou has driven me this day away from the ground and from thy face I shall be hidden.’ ” [Genesis 4: 10, 13-14] Losing Eden was less fearful than losing God.

Control of Fertility

The control of fertility has been of enormous interest to mankind throughout human history. Down through the ages there has been ruthless expenditure of human life one way or another. Infanticide was practised in early times in order to do away with unwanted children. But it is only in recent times in this century, which we are leaving now, that great technological advancements have been made in all fields. This is particularly so in the field of human reproduction where control of fertility is the aim and the prevention of births the main target. Out of this technology has arisen the possibility of making tissues and organs with the sacrifice of early human life specially created for the purpose of providing transplants. This proposed manufacture of tissue, labelled "therapeutic" has become a strong commercial enterprise, though still in its early days.

Man is seeking to dominate man by changing the Creator's "image and likeness" for his own purposes. Will the Lord's voice again be heard "What have you done?"

The Pill

In the early 1960s we saw the development of the contraceptive Pill.

The release from personal responsibility to procreation came into being in a big way with the development of the Pill. We are familiar with the three-way activity of the Pill, first of all, a sterilising effect by attacking the function of the pituitary and ovarian glands causing sterility. Secondly, by changing the conditions of the cervical mucus necessary for the progress of sperm cells which is a contraceptive effect of the medication. Thirdly, by changing the endometrium to prevent implantation; thus the nourishment of the baby is impaired if by chance the other two mechanisms fail and conception occurs. So, immediately we can see that the child is a casualty. It is refused acceptance and love. There has also been a change in the relationship between man and woman because in an attempt to prevent conception husband and wife have been separated not only physically, that is, the reality of 'two in one flesh' has been violated and a philosophy of separation has been introduced which in so many cases today we see as divorce and broken homes where children are neglected and alone.

One of the consequences of the widespread use of the Pill has been sexual promiscuity. This in turn has produced the widespread scourge of sexually transmitted diseases including the fatal AIDS.

Abortion has increased enormously and much of this is due to failed contraception. Research into other more efficient methods has continued as the Pill was found to cause many unexpected problems. All these methods carry serious side effects on health and happiness.

As the result of infection there has been an increased rate of infertility in the community. The occlusion of fallopian tubes has come about through infection not only from sexually transmitted diseases but also from use of the intrauterine device and from surgical sterilisation by means of occluding the tubes by various techniques. From the beginning, the search for birth control has been commercially directed. The Pill is big business and abortion, which follows in its wake, is also big business. But now there is a new field which is also commercially driven. It is the alleviation of infertility. Two main lines of research have been promoted. One was the repair by microsurgery of the fallopian tubes and the other was the development of in vitro fertilisation techniques to by-pass blocked fallopian tubes. Research funds for both of these proposals were being sought around about the same time. However, it was the in vitro fertilisation techniques and the possibilities that they held forth which won the day.

ART - Assisted Reproductive Technology

Natural conception depends on a healthy reproductive system, that is, healthy sperm cells, healthy ovulation with normal hormones and patent fallopian tubes for the meeting of the gametes and for the unimpeded progress to the uterus of the embryo following fertilisation. The endometrium which has been prepared to receive it must be normal. The cervix must be able to produce the necessary cervical mucus secretion for the nourishment and selection of normal sperm cells and the progression of them into the uterus. As well there must be a loving harmonious relationship between the husband and wife and good teaching to ensure that a natural act of intercourse occurs at the time of maximal fertility, that is at the Peak symptom of the Billings Ovulation Method.

Some assistance to natural procreation can be achieved by technology. Microsurgery has been used with limited success for the repair of damaged fallopian tubes and tubes that have been occluded by surgical sterilisation. Anomalies of ovulation with hormonal irregularities can be treated. Mucus secretion can be enhanced in the cervix by suitable hormonal intervention. Professor James Brown's ovarian monitor is valuable in identifying ovulation for those women who have minimal cervical secretion. The overall success rate of treating infertility by teaching the BOM and use of the monitor is above 50%.

Many techniques of ART are available. They are expensive, not very successful, stressful for the woman and man and fraught with social and legal problems for the child. Nature is by-passed in two important aspects. Conception occurs artificially, that is the natural act of intercourse is by-passed. The natural selection of the best sperm cells by the cervical mucus is eliminated, resulting in abnormalities in embryos and children. Miscarriages and premature birth are common. Loss of young life is commonplace.

Several methods are employed:

IVF - In Vitro Fertilisation
Sperm cells are obtained by masturbation which most men find difficult to tolerate. Fresh sperm are obtained as the egg is being picked up from the woman's ovary. Donor sperm is sometimes used when the male is deficient in sperm cells. Powerful drugs are used to super-ovulate the woman or if she cannot ovulate, donor eggs will be used. The technique of super-ovulation is very specialised and there is a danger of multiple pregnancies occurring. Some operators aim for as many eggs as possible; 48 at one time has been known. These must be removed at once or the woman may become very ill indeed. The hormonal level generated can be 20 times the normal.

In vitro fertilisation occurs in a glass receptacle, there is no longer the need for personal conjugal love in the mechanism of procreating. The Creator's design is fundamentally changed and in this change there is a profound offence. The conjugal act is not necessary. But the woman is necessary to incubate the embryo and so she becomes an instrument - a vehicle. The child becomes a product. The technique is so expensive and so demanding for the woman that the child conceived must be a perfect child and if abnormalities are seen during the development of that child then it will in many cases be aborted. This means that pre-natal diagnosis becomes a very important part of the whole artificial technique. Even the sex of the child enters into the consideration of the acceptance of the child. Chorionic villus sampling, where part of the immature placenta is removed for genetic diagnosis, and amniocentesis carried out at about 16 weeks following conception are two of the hazardous techniques undertaken to assess the acceptability of the product. Ultrasonography is also widely used to detect abnormalities- but is not always accurate so that in an attempt to prevent births of handicapped children sometimes normal babies die instead.

Originally in vitro fertilisation was a technique to alleviate blocked fallopian tubes but soon it became open to anyone who had an infertility problem, thereby eliminating the correct gynaecological procedures to properly assess the underlying abnormality.

Several or many eggs are now fertilised in vitro, that is in a glass receptacle. Two or three embryos are selected for transfer into the woman's uterus after several days development in the glass dish and the rest are discarded or frozen for further use which may mean transfer at a later date, or experimentation, with destruction of the embryo.

If multiple pregnancies occur, selective abortion reduces the number. The success rate for IVF is between 10 and 12%. This ignores the wastage rate, that is, the death of early human life which is enormous. If all these early deaths are counted in the statistics, the birth rate is nearer 1.7%. Compare this with 50% for the BOM figures.

There are birth defects - a figure difficult to ascertain as pre-natal diagnosis and abortion are systematically carried out in order to avoid abnormal children being born. The baby becomes a product and must be perfect. The mother becomes a vehicle for carrying the child. There is no loving act of intercourse. Premature births occur with grave disadvantages for the child. The paediatricians are complaining to the operators, as there is an increase in the number of tiny babies needing long specialised attention.

Several modifications of these procedures are used:

GIFT - Gamete lntra-fallopian Tube Transfer
Usually it is the woman's egg that is picked up and placed with the husband's sperm in the fallopian tube so that fertilisation can occur in the woman's body. It was thought that this would avoid the moral objection which accompanied in vitro fertilisation. However, there is no natural intercourse and the cervical mucus selection is by-passed. Super-ovulation is undertaken and provides the opportunity for some operators to use the sperm cells to fertilise the extra ova with subsequent freezing or experimentation in mind. Sometimes it is proposed that a donor egg be used if the woman has a problem with ovulation or disease, or a donor sperm may be used if the husband cannot provide one. Such procedures have moral objections.

ZIFT - Zygote Intra-fallopian Tube Transfer, following IVF

PROST - Pro-nucleus Surgical Transfer, also following IVF

ICSI - Intracellular Sperm Injection
By injecting the egg cell with the sperm in vitro an increased fertilisation rate can be obtained. The claim is 70-80% but there is a greater incidence of severe neural tube defects, including anencephaly. These are disposed of by prenatal diagnosis and abortion.

Another procedure occurs which relocates a woman's ovum in order to by-pass the obstruction in the fallopian tube. This is followed by normal intercourse. It unfortunately has a poor success rate, but is morally acceptable.

There is a disease which occurs as the result of defects in the mitochondria in the cytoplasm of the woman's ovum. It is proposed that in order to alleviate this problem a donor egg is utilised. The nucleus of the donor egg is removed and replaced by the nucleus of the woman's ovum. Fertilisation by the husband's sperm then occurs in vitro and the resultant embryo is transferred to the woman's uterus. So this embryo then will have three parents.

CLONING

Making of genetically identical cells or organisms

Culture of cell lines, e.g. skin or liver DNA fragments. These are used to repair damaged tissue and the procedure is licit.

Embryo splitting - natural twins
IVF embryo splitting - an artificial production of twins

EMBRYOID BODIES - develop like an embryo. Asexual - no fusion of sperm and egg.

Somatic cell for nuclear transfer into enucleated ovum or fusion with whole cell. Electric shock starts development which usually cannot form a placenta. It is claimed that Dolly did and progressed to term. Addition of trophoblastic cells to the embryoid body enables it to form a placenta. No natural intercourse, no parents, expendable products used for tissues, organs or bizarre forms and uses may be possible.
"Brave new world"

OTHER EMBYOIDS

Parthenogenesis-an electric shock to an ovum will cause it to develop--only for a limited time.
Culture of embryonic stem cells--never to develop into organs. Will not become embryo if transferred to uterus

THERAPEUTIC CLONING - Expressly for obtaining embryonic stem cells, a procedure which causes the death of the organism

The technique used to clone an animal involves an in vitro procedure whereby the ovum of an animal has its nucleus removed. The ovum is then fused with a somatic (body) cell taken from the animal to be cloned. The nucleus alone of this donor cell may be transferred to the ovum as it contains the chromosomal DNA of the donor. The cytoplasm of the donor cell used in fusion contains organelles which probably have an influence on the future development of the cloned body. The cytoplasm of the ovum probably has an influence on the development also. A small electric shock is applied to the combined ovum plus whole donor cell or ovum plus donor nucleus and this stimulates development similar to a developing embryo up to the point of producing a group of stem cells which normally constitute the inner cell mass from which the various body parts of the embryo develop. However, the development is usually abnormal in as much as it fails due to an inability to form a placenta. The primitive embryonic placental cells called the trophoblast are absent. These cells interact normally with the endometrium to form the placenta which is essential for nutrition and elimination of waste products through the walls of the mother's blood vessels. Some researchers have been able to add these cells artificially to the cloned body and enable the development to proceed further even to the point of maturity and birth in some animals.

[Figure courtesy N. Tonti-Filippini]

These last results suggested that it might be possible to create in the laboratory a human embryo-like creature (embryoid body) solely for the utilisation of its stem cells, a technique which would bring about its death. If human cloning were allowed the "embryoid" would be produced asexually, that is without the union of sperm and egg by natural intercourse. This is very unlike what happens in nature where a man and a woman by a natural loving act of intercourse cooperate with the Creator in bringing to life a new individual who belongs to those parents and who, whether disabled or normal, is accepted by those parents.

In 1997 with the birth of "Dolly", it was seen that at least it was possible for such an animal to be born. And so the big question arose, "If an embryoid using the same technique is produced with human cells by asexual manipulation, will this body be capable of reaching birth as a normal. baby?"

We do not know.

Other questions follow: would this embryoid simply be a group of human cells developing according to their inherent program of replication and differentiation, which lacking the specific organisational capabilities would never reach birth? Is this embryoid an Image of God?

[Figure courtesy N. Tonti-Filippini]

Because Dolly was born a real sheep makes us fearful that human cloning could result in producing a real person.

But a sheep is a sheep and a human being is a human being and is created, each in a unique way. It is the Creator's plan.

Seeing these great problems ahead for the human race where big commercial enterprises have become very interested in pushing the research for cloning, the practice has been outlawed in various countries, Australia, Great Britain, Western Europe and the United States of America. There has been an outcry against this decision by those who could see a great future for therapeutic cloning, that is the development of useful tissues and cells and of course, great benefits to the biotechnological industries.

In the case of "Dolly" the donor sheep was seven years old. The whole procedure turned out to be very wasteful as there were 277 attempts before "Dolly" came to be. Now we find that Dolly is ageing prematurely because the donor cell was already seven years old. Evidently the nucleus carries as part of its program, the allotted life span for the individual. And that was not foreseen but was to be discovered.

[Figure courtesy N. Tonti-Filippini]

The world became very excited by the event of "Dolly". No longer were parents needed. Cells could be used for cloning without knowledge or consent of the owners of the genetic material. They became merely instruments in the exercise. The woman would be reduced to a vehicle for carrying the cloned human embryo and this could occur in the complete absence of a male.

It has been anticipated that for human cloning to occur, a considerable amount of preliminary experimentation on embryos would be necessary. This means that there would be many more embryo deaths.

In Summary

The point must be clearly made that in both reproductive cloning and in therapeutic cloning the human embryo is involved. As a "therapeutic" procedure it is proposed that cloned embryos will supply organs to replace diseased organs in others. But individual organs cannot be cloned in isolation. The only possible way to procure organs would be to clone an embryo by in vitro fertilisation, then. to transplant it into a woman's uterus and when the fetus has developed to a certain level of organ maturity, to abort the fetus and dismember it for the proposed use.

Stem cells will not produce organs. However, this procedure has not yet been universally banned, unlike reproductive cloning which is banned in many countries. Reproductive cloning an individual, that is the reproduction of a genetically identical human copy requires that the implanted embryo which has been fertilised in a glass receptacle will proceed to term and be born like Dolly the sheep. This has not so far been achieved in a human being.

In therapeutic cloning and in reproductive cloning the same procedure occurs. In vitro fertilisation of an ovum occurs followed by implantation of the embryo into the uterus of a woman. In therapeutic cloning the fetus is sacrificed for the organ. In reproductive cloning the fetus goes on to term. Up to date neither procedure has been achieved. In an effort to do this there has been an appalling cost in infant human life. Therapeutic cloning has been regarded by many as a compassionate means of alleviating the sufferings of adults with diseased organs but the human sacrifice is ignored.

The ban, which operates in many countries around the world to reproductive cloning, should be extended to a total ban on cloning human embryos for any purpose whatsoever and on any embryo experimentation for any reason.

One cannot help admiring the excellence of the science involved in animal cloning. Much fascinating information is being obtained. We are all involved in speculation as to how this knowledge will be used. But knowledge alone is not enough to fulfil the Divine plan. There must be wisdom, that is, knowledge must be tempered by love. The procedure of attempting to clone a human being should be outlawed if for no other reason than because of the horrendous possibilities of enormous expenditure of human life or the development of bizarre abnormalities. Already the human cell has been joined to a cow's ovum and stem cells produced. What name would one give to this creature? What respect? The greatest respect would be to prohibit its coming into being. It seems to me that this procedure goes far beyond what God saw was very good. I think science must concede the point that if either only monsters are created or all attempts fail to produce a mature perfect human being, they must regard the experiment as a failure and abandon it.

In a document from the Pontifical Academy for Life of March 1999, it was stated that, "it cannot be forgotten that the denial of man's creaturely status far from exalting human freedom, in fact creates new forms of slavery, discrimination and profound suffering. Cloning risks being the tragic parody of God's Omnipotence. Man, to whom God has entrusted the created world and gives him freedom and intelligence, finds no limits to his actions, unless dictated solely by practical impossibility: he himself must learn how to set these limits by discerning good and evil. Once again man is asked to choose: it is his responsibility to decide whether to transform technology into a tool of liberation or to become its slave by introducing new forms of violence and suffering." [March 1999, Ethical Problems Connected with Human Cloning, Pontifical Academy for Life.]

In the process of human cloning we can see gross violation of the Divine plan beginning with the deadly separation of man from woman in the conjugal act and the elimination of parents from children. [From the Pontifical Academy for Life and Evangelium Vitae.]

To enable biomedical science to maintain and strengthen its relationship with the true welfare of man. and society, it is necessary to foster, as the Holy Father recalls in the encyclical Evangelium Vitae “a 'contemplative outlook' on man himself and the world, with the vision of reality as God's creation and in the context of solidarity between science, the good of the person and of society.”

“It is the outlook of those who see life in its deeper meaning, who grasp its utter gratuitness, its beauty and its invitation to freedom and responsibility. It is the outlook of those who do not presume to take possession of reality but instead accept it as a gift, discovering in all things the reflection of the creator and seeing in every person his living image.” [Evangelium Vitae (N. 83).]

In summary then, a recent statement of the Catholic Church has declared unethical any procedure [see The Catholic Leader for March 28, 1999] which:

Brings new human persons into being without an act of loving sexual intercourse between parents, for example, by "reproductive cloning"
Destroys or damages a human embryo so as to obtain cells from it whether for "therapeutic cloning" or for any other experimental or medical purpose.
Alters a cell so that it can develop as a human embryo.
Creates or alters a human embryo so that it is disabled (making it unable to develop a placenta or a brain).
Co-operates in destructive experimentation or abortion by using cells or tissues from embryos or aborted babies for therapy, researcher commercial applications such as cosmetics.

Pope John Paul 11 stated in Evangelium Vitae, “The human being is to be respected and treated as a person from the moment of conception and therefore from that same moment his rights as a person must be recognised.” St Thomas Aquinas is said to have declared that in seeking truth, there are two reliable sources, scripture and nature. Man in his search for truth is reaching out more and more to decipher the riddles around him. With very advanced technological means, he may go to the ends of space. But it must be remembered that man himself is an end and cannot without impunity be treated as a means in the acquiring of knowledge, nor can his being be expended for any purpose including the advantage of any other human being. Each human being's personal riddle lies in that uniqueness which is kept safe in the loving design of God.