The Moral Mind

The US Catholic Bishops, in directive 50 of The Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services, summarize well the ethics of prenatal tests:

“Prenatal diagnosis is permitted when the procedure does not threaten the life or physical integrity of the unborn child or the mother and does not subject them to disproportionate risks; when the diagnosis can provide information to guide preventive care for the mother or pre- or postnatal care for the child; and when the parents, or at least the mother, give free and informed consent. Prenatal diagnosis is not permitted if undertaken with the intention of aborting an unborn child with a serious defect.”

Indeed, the ethical “elephant in the room” is the motivation behind the now near universal prenatal testing pushed by many governments and health care entities. The aim is usually to detect any fetal health problems and make possible the abortion of those children.

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It sounds like science fiction or fake news: “Not alive, but not dead: disembodied human brains used for drug testing.” Unfortunately, it is quite real and extremely troubling. A company located next to Yale University, Bexorg, is obtaining human brains for experiments from organizations that procure donated organs for transplantation.

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In his first encyclical letter, Magnifica Humanitas, Pope Leo XIV focuses on Catholic Social Teaching as applied to Artificial Intelligence (AI). Within this context, several of his points highlight bioethical challenges in the current digital revolution. The pope reaffirms that AI is a system of advanced data processing that imitates the human intellect but completely lacks a body, emotions, moral conscience, and spiritual capacity. He stresses the harmfulness of the transhumanist and posthumanist technological aspirations that undermine the dignity of the human person in multiple ways. Transhumanism is an ideology that seeks to bypass humanity's biological and moral limitations through technology. As a form of neo-Gnosticism, it emphasizes the superiority of the intellect and the spirit over the body, which is seen as inherently limiting for human persons. Posthumanism goes even farther. As a philosophical and cultural movement, it seeks to overcome or erase the distinct boundaries between human beings and machines. It explicitly rejects the view that human nature is something precious that must be respected.  Bioengineering and digital augmentation that radically alter human beings and transform them into a “superior” and possibly disembodied existence is a posthumanist goal. Trans and post humanists frequently incorporate extensive use of AI into their plans for humanity.

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Bioethicists can fail in their ethical duties by falling into laxism or rigorism. The first is more characteristic of contemporary times. In most areas present civilization seems intent on relaxing standards and rules. Laxism can be defined as “the moral system according to which a person in a doubt of conscience about the morality of a certain course of action, may safely follow the opinion for liberty provided that it possesses any probability whatsoever.” In short, any possibility that an action might be moral justifies action. This system of thought was condemned by Pope Innocent XI in 1679, but he also joined previous pontiffs in denouncing rigorism. Nevertheless, it seems that society is more likely today to push for loose enforcement of ethical norms rather than taking a strict attitude.

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The Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne and The Servants of Relief for Incurable Cancer (Rosary Hill Home) have filed a legal challenge in federal court against requirements from the New York State Department of Health related to gender identity policies in long-term care settings. The sisters refuse to comply with gender ideology-inspired state mandates at the expense of their religious liberty and conscience rights. Mother Marie Edward Deutsch, OP, the religious superior of the sisters, prayed and sought counsel before embarking on this lawsuit, but she could not violate the truth and contradict Catholic teaching in caring for patients or ask her sisters or staff to do so. New York’s Department of Health insists on enforcing a recent state law, “The Long-Term Care Facility Residents’ Bill of Rights for LGBTQIA+ New Yorkers and People Living with HIV,” that requires assigning rooms in health care facilities based on the asserted “gender identity” of the patient. Similarly, bathrooms must be open to whatever gender a person claims to be, and staff must use “preferred” names and pronouns regardless of whether they correspond to the individual’s biological sex. The state law even requires facilities to allow “a resident's right to associate with other residents or with visitors, including the right to consensual expression of intimacy or sexual relations, unless the restriction is uniformly applied to all residents in a nondiscriminatory manner.”

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Catholic bioethics is centered on seeking to do what is good and avoiding violations of the moral law in health care and scientific research. It should also be concerned with the deep healing that can come from asking for and giving forgiveness. The Christian moral tradition centers on our redemption accomplished by the incarnation of Jesus Christ and his taking on himself the Passion and crucifixion to pay the price for the guilt of all humanity’s sins. The main prayer that Our Lord composed for us calls everyone to ask God for forgiveness for our trespasses but also adds that we should forgive those who trespass against us in equal measure.

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Changes in mentality and morality have led to a modern rise in suicides, especially in US states with legalized physician assisted suicide. Nationally, there was a 40% surge in suicides in the two decades following the year 2000. Oregon, the first US state to approve assisted suicide, had a dramatic spike in non-medicalized suicide afterwards that peaked at 41% over the already dramatically increased national average. The state of Oregon then spent a great deal of money in attempting to reduce the youth suicide rate with moderate success. These efforts were hampered by the mixed message inherent in legalizing assisted suicide. Disability rights advocates logically point out the double standard of young and healthy people receiving suicide prevention while the elderly, sick, and handicapped get suicide promotion.

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It was refreshing to see that Puerto Rico now has a law recognizing the personhood of preborn children from the moment of conception. It amended the civil code of Puerto Rico to read, “Every human being is a natural person, including the conceived child at any stage of gestation within the mother’s womb.” This is a good reminder that there is still unfinished business when it comes to this issue within the Church and broader bioethics.

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