Avant-propos - Studia Moralia

116 JOHN BERKMAN
moment of its existence until birth.” 2 At all stages of life from
conception on, human life is deserving of absolute protection.
As DV puts it:
From the moment of conception, the life of every human
being is to be respected in an absolute way … Human life is sacred
because from its beginning it involves “the creative action of God”
and it remains forever in a special relationship with the Creator,
who is its sole end. God alone is the Lord of life from its beginning
until its end: no one can, in any circumstance, claim for himself the
right to destroy directly an innocent human being. 3
Since the publication of DV, there has been a vigorous
debate in Catholic theology on the status of the embryo in the
earliest stages after conception, and the further implications of
the alternative viewpoints. 4 While an important debate, an
extended discussion of the various viewpoints is beyond the
scope of this paper. At present, the embryological and theological
arguments articulated in DV find numerous credible defenders.
Since this paper is an evaluation of embryo adoption in the
2 DV, Foreword, footnote #1. The full footnote reads as follows: “Voces
‘zygotum’, ‘prae-embryon’, ‘embryon’, ‘fetus’, iuxta usum in disciplina biologica
receptum, indicare possunt succedentia tempora in viventis humani processu
ad suam maturitatem assequendam. Haec Instructio libere his vocibus utitur,
eis tribuens eandem ethicam aestimationem ad significandum fructum,
vitae autonomae capacem vel non, generationis humanae, a primo eius vitae
momento usque ad nativitatem. Ratio huius ex ipso textu patebit.”
3 DV, Introduction, 5. “Inde a conceptionis momento, vita cuiusvis
humanae creaturae omnino est observanda … Humana vita pro re sacra
habenda est, quippe quae inde a suo exordio ‘Creatoris actionem postulet’ ac
semper peculiari necessitudine cum Creatore, unico fine suo, perstet conexa.
Solus Deus vitae Dominus est ab exordio usque ad exitum: nemo, in nullus
rerum adiunctis, sibi vindicare potest ius mortem humanae creaturae innocenti
directe afferendi.”
4 Questions have been raised about the ontological and moral status of
the embryo in its earliest stages in e.g. Shannon and Wolter (1990). Their
embryological arguments are analyzed in Johnson (1995). Johnson’s views
are evaluated in Porter (1995). The embryological views of DV are defended
by e.g. Doerflinger (1999) and Ashley and Moraczewski (2001).