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In this procedure, a human egg is surgically removed from the mother's ovary, transferred to a special
solution and mixed with the sperm (usually obtained through a sinful act). Once fertilization has
occurred, the embryo is implanted in the uterine wall Although the procedure has become more or
less common, it still is painful, expensive and not always successful. To reduce the pain, expense and
risk of failure, women are usually given drugs to stimulate ovulation, allowing the retrieval of multiple
eggs at one time, which once fertilized will produce many embryos ready for implantation. Usually,
the extra embryos are frozen and kept in liquid nitrogen to be used later, if need be, although freezing
reduces their capacity to be implanted.
Why is this procedure immoral?
By comparison with the transmission of other forms of life in the universe, the transmission of human
life has a special character of its own, which derives from the special nature of the human person. The
transmission of human life is entrusted by nature to a personal and conscious act, and as such is
subject to the allholy laws of God: immutable and inviolable laws that must be recognized and
observed. For this reason, one cannot use means and follow methods which could be licit in the
transmission of the life of plants and animals. 51 The Church has always rejected the attitude which
would pretend to separate, in generation, the biological activity from the personal relation of the
married couple. The child is the fruit of the conjugal union, when that union finds full expression by
bringing into play the organic functions, the associated sensible emotions, and the spiritual and
disinterested love which animates the union. It is in the unity of this human act that we should
consider the biological considerations of generation. Never is it permitted to separate these various
aspects to the positive exclusion either of the procreative intention or of the conjugal union.52
Thus, the fundamental immorality of in vitro fertilization lies in the fact that it constitutes a
perversion of the order of naturewilled by Godin the use of marriage. In effect, the act of
procreation is replaced by a technical intervention, which takes place apart from the physical union of
the spouses. As procreation is separated from the conjugal act, so in consequence the procreative end
of marriage is utterly separated from its unitive end, the mutual love and gift of the spouses. Moreover,
in the usual practice of in vitro fertilization, not all of the embryos are transferred into the woman's
body; some are destroyed. Just as the Church condemns induced abortion, so she also forbids acts
against the life of these human beings ....By acting in this way the researcher usurps the place of
God; and, even though he may be unaware of this, he sets himself up as the master of the destiny of
others inasmuch as he arbitrarily chooses whom he will allow to live and whom he will send to death,
and kills defenseless human beings (emphasis added).53
cryopreservation is immoral
The freezing of embryos... cryopreservationconstitutes an offense against the respect due to human
beings by exposing them to grave risks of death or harm to their physical integrity, and depriving
them, at least temporarily, of maternal shelter and gestation, thus placing them in a situation in
which further offenses and manipulation are possible.54
Once the embryo has been formed, we are in the presence of a human person, who has the strict
right to be placed in the natural conditions necessary for his survival and perfect development.
"Upon whoever gives life to the tiny creature, nature imposes, in virtue of that very bond, the duty of
protecting and educating the child.”55
Cryopreservation is undeniably a violation of such duty.56
• Cooperation in Any of These Actions Is Immoral
It has been suggested that the researchers may be allowed to use embryonic stem cells obtained by
independent laboratories. In this manner, it is argued, the researcher would avoid any moral
responsibility in the murder of the embryos, and simply use the tissues that are now available and
which otherwise would go to waste. To answer this objection, we will have to delve again into
principles of moral theology.
Cooperation, in moral terminology, is the assistance given by one person (the assistant, or cooperator)
to another (the principal agent) in the performance of a certain action, or the concurrence of one with
another in the production of a certain effect. To discern where moral responsibilities belong in the
cases when the other person commits an action that is in itself sinful, moral theologians have
distinguished different kinds and degrees of cooperation in that action.
"Formal cooperation" means that the assistant intends the same sinful end as the principal agent. In
"material cooperation," on the contrary, the assistant does not intend that sinful end, but lets it happen.
In this kind of cooperation, two different kinds are distinguished: "immediate material cooperation,"
which is participation in the sinful act itself, and "mediate material cooperation," which is
participation in some of the circumstances that lead to the act, but not in the sinful act itself. "Mediate
material cooperation" is further distinguished into "proximate" and "remote" depending on how close
to the attainment of the sinful end is the action in which one participates. A second general distinction
is between "necessary cooperation," meaning that the assistant's action is strictly necessary for the
attainment of the sinful end, and "contingent cooperation," in which the assistant's action helps, but it
is not necessary for the sinful act to happen.
These distinctions are necessary to understand Catholic doctrine on the levels of moral responsibility
of the assistant or cooperator. Formal cooperation is always forbiddento assist another in the
performance of a sinful act, intending it, is a sin identical to that of the principal agent. Is then
material cooperation permissible? Not always! Immediate material cooperation is equally forbidden,
because to participate directly in a sinful act, even if having a different intention, is nevertheless the
commission of that particular sin. Mediate material cooperation is permissible if certain conditions
are present, namely, that the action of the cooperator is a good action in itself, and that there are grave
reasons to give this assistance. The gravity of the reasons increases in proportion to the gravity of the
sinful action in which one cooperates, and also in proportion to the closeness of one's action to that
sinful act.
All this complication of distinctions brings us to the resolution of the question whether it is morally
permissible to use embryonic stem cells produced and prepared by laboratories independent of the
researcher. The answer is no, it is equally immoral and forbidden. Why?
The researcher may usually intend primarily his research, and not necessarily the killing of human
beings, in which he does not participate directly. Therefore, his cooperation is usually material, not
formal, and mediate, not immediate. It is proximate, though, because the researcher has to work very
closely with the provider to establish the adequate protocols for the retrieval of stem cells suitable for
the research purposes. Above all, this cooperation is necessary, because the embryos are produced and
killed for the research. The demand for embryonic stem cells creates a market, and the laboratories are
simply the providers for such market. The researcher is the material, mediate, proximate and
necessary cooperator, usually in the immoral manner of production and always in the murder of
human beings. Therefore, he is also morally coresponsible for the sins committed.