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DL82
Guest
I read an interesting article recently from a professor of embryology writing in The Tablet, defending the Human Fertilisation & Embryology Bill which is being debated in the UK Parliament at present.
He was arguing that the fuss over animal-human hybrid embryos was unfounded, because these are never going to turn into anything either human, animal or mutant, and, importantly, there is no conception involved!
In this process, the complete cell of an adult human is inserted into the empty egg of a rabbit or other animal, which causes the cell, which is NOT a sperm cell, to behave as if it were an embryo, even though it is not. The cell simply becomes a stem-cell-productive version of an existing human being’s DNA.
Because there is no interaction of egg and sperm, no combining of one person’s DNA and another, does that mean that the process is not conception?
I know that the Church teaches that conception should only happen in the womb in the act of sexual reproduction. If this medical technique is conception, then by definition it is immoral, but is it a conception at all?
What about transgenic animals, where some human DNA is injected into a mouse to allow that mouse to grow human tissue (ears, organs, teeth, etc.) for later transplant. This already happens, is it condemned by the Church?
If possible, can respondents please point to arguments in moral theology or to Church documents that give an opinion on this.
He was arguing that the fuss over animal-human hybrid embryos was unfounded, because these are never going to turn into anything either human, animal or mutant, and, importantly, there is no conception involved!
In this process, the complete cell of an adult human is inserted into the empty egg of a rabbit or other animal, which causes the cell, which is NOT a sperm cell, to behave as if it were an embryo, even though it is not. The cell simply becomes a stem-cell-productive version of an existing human being’s DNA.
Because there is no interaction of egg and sperm, no combining of one person’s DNA and another, does that mean that the process is not conception?
I know that the Church teaches that conception should only happen in the womb in the act of sexual reproduction. If this medical technique is conception, then by definition it is immoral, but is it a conception at all?
What about transgenic animals, where some human DNA is injected into a mouse to allow that mouse to grow human tissue (ears, organs, teeth, etc.) for later transplant. This already happens, is it condemned by the Church?
If possible, can respondents please point to arguments in moral theology or to Church documents that give an opinion on this.