By Hilary White
ST. LOUIS, October 6, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – For the first time, a Catholic bishop in the US has come out with a strong statement clarifying the Church’s teaching on the practice of donating, or sometimes selling, human ova for medical research. Archbishop Raymond Burke of St. Louis, a strong advocate for life and family, has published a pastoral letter in which he says unequivocally that the removal of ova for artificial reproduction, including cloning, is a grave moral evil.
Referring to an upcoming ballot initiative to amend the state constitution, Archbishop Burke warned that the push to create cloned human beings for medical research not only necessarily takes the lives of innocent human beings, but also exploits women in the process.
He wrote, “Human cloning requires the harvesting of eggs from women who are exploited to accomplish the purposes of its proponents. As Christians, we must address the immorality of such exploitation.”
“The woman who subjects herself to the harvesting of her eggs for human cloning participates in a grave moral evil, the artificial generation of human life.” Burke said.
That the Catholic Church unequivocally condemns all artificial means of reproduction, as well as abortion and contraception, is one of her best-kept secrets. Pro-life advocates have long struggled to bring to light the fact that the source of much of the so-called “stem cell controversy” is that IVF and its related procedures are themselves violations of human dignity.
Burke tells his readers that the ballot measure, called Amendment 2, contains deceptive language and although it is presented as a ban on cloning, it actually protects the practice.
“In fact,” says Burke, “it gives the constitutional right to clone human beings.”
“Women will be asked to cooperate in the process without the necessary explanation of the moral implications of their cooperation.” Burke says plainly: “The natural moral law prohibits any woman from cooperating in the act of human cloning.”
He warns that the process involved in creating human clones makes not only the clone but the woman into a “commodity” to be bartered in the scientific world. Calling the process “dehumanizing,” Burke says, “The great gift of fertility in a woman, the natural production of the human egg for reproduction, now becomes an object for manipulation by those who promote human cloning.”
“A woman’s cooperation in the twin evils of human cloning and the destruction of human embryos for the sake of the harvesting of stem cells is never justified.”
The Archbishop calls on his readers to consider “the grave moral crisis for our state and nation, which Amendment 2 represents, please give reflection to the moral and physical exploitation of women involved in human cloning for embryonic stem-cell research.”
Read the full text of Archbishop Burke’s letter:
https://www.stlouisreview.com/abpcolumn.php?abpid=11552
Read related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:
Barely Studied Risks of Egg-Donation Come Under Scrutiny
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/aug/06081106.html