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William E. May is the Michael J. McGivney Professor of Moral Theology at the John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family. He is an internationally known and well respected theologian. He is the coauthor of Catholic Sexual Ethics, Second Edition and author of An Introduction to Moral Theology.
| Foreword | 13 | |
| Introduction | 15 | |
| Chapter 1 | Church Teaching and Major Issues in Bioethics | 19 |
| 1. | John Paul II's Encyclical Evangelium Vitae | 20 |
| A. | Chapter One: "Present-Day Threats to Human Life" | 20 |
| B. | Chapter Two: "The Christian Message Concerning Life" | 22 |
| C. | Chapter Three: "God's Holy Law" | 24 |
| D. | Chapter Four: "For a New Culture of Human Life" | 30 |
| 2. | The Vatican Instruction on Respect for Human Life in Its Origin and on the Dignity of Procreation (Donum Vitae) | 34 |
| A. | Introduction | 34 |
| B. | Part I: Respect for Human Embryos | 35 |
| C. | Part II: Interventions Upon Human Procreation | 36 |
| D. | Part III: Moral Law and Civil Law | 38 |
| 3. | Declaration on Procured Abortion | 39 |
| 4. | The Declaration on Euthanasia | 42 |
| A. | Introduction | 42 |
| B. | Part I: The Value of Human Life | 42 |
| C. | Part II: Euthanasia | 43 |
| D. | Part III: The Meaning of Suffering for Christians and the Use of Painkillers | 43 |
| E. | Part IV: Due Proportion in the Use of Remedies | 44 |
| Conclusion to Chapter One | 45 | |
| Endnotes for Chapter One | 45 | |
| Chapter 2 | Making True Moral Judgments and Good Moral Choices | 47 |
| 1. | The Meaning of a "Human Act"; Its Existential and Religious Significance; The Sources of Its Moral Character | 48 |
| A. | The Meaning of a "Human Act" | 48 |
| B. | The Existential, Religious Significance of Human Acts as Freely Chosen | 49 |
| C. | The Sources of the Morality of a Human Act | 50 |
| 2. | Kinds of Human Dignity; Human Freedom and God's Wise and Loving Plan for Human Existence | 52 |
| A. | Kinds of Human Dignity | 52 |
| B. | Human Freedom of Choice and God's Wise and Loving Plan for Human Existence | 54 |
| 3. | The Relationship Between the "Good" and Human Choices and Action; The First Principles of Natural Law | 55 |
| 4. | Normative Truths of Natural Law | 57 |
| 5. | Steps in Making True Moral Judgments | 60 |
| 6. | The "Fulfillment" or "Perfection" of Natural Law Through the Redemptive Work of Christ | 61 |
| Endnotes for Chapter Two | 63 | |
| Chapter 3 | Generating Human Life: Marriage and the New Reproductive Technologies | 65 |
| Introduction | 65 | |
| 1. | Part One: Fornication, Adultery, and the Generation of Human Life | 66 |
| 2. | Part Two: Marriage and the Generation of Human Life | 67 |
| A. | Marriage, Marital Rights and Capacities | 67 |
| B. | The Meaning of the Marital Act | 68 |
| C. | "Begetting" Human Life Through the Marital Act | 70 |
| 3. | Part Three: Generating Human Life Through New Reproductive Technologies | 71 |
| A. | The Teaching of Pius XII and the Pontifical Academy for Life | 72 |
| B. | The New Reproductive Technologies | 73 |
| C. | An Ethical and Theological Evaluation of the New Reproductive Technologies | 79 |
| 4. | Part Four: "Assisted" Insemination/Fertilization | 87 |
| A. | Basic Criteria | 87 |
| B. | Acknowledged Instances of Assisted Insemination or Fertilization | 89 |
| C. | Controverted Technologies | 90 |
| D. | Conclusion to Part Four; A Word About Fertility Drugs | 93 |
| 5. | Part Five: "Rescuing" Frozen Embryos | 94 |
| A. | There Are No Morally Licit Ways of "Rescuing" Frozen Embryos | 95 |
| B. | It Can Be Morally Licit for a Woman to Have a Frozen Embryo Transferred to Her Womb and Nurtured | 101 |
| C. | Even Single Women Can Rightly Nurture and Bear Frozen Embryos | 104 |
| D. | Conclusion to the "Rescuing of Frozen Embryos" | 107 |
| Endnotes for Chapter Three | 108 | |
| Chapter 4 | Contraception and Respect for Human Life | 119 |
| Introduction | 119 | |
| 1. | Pope John Paul II on the Roots of the Culture of Death and Contraception's Relationship to It | 123 |
| 2. | Contraception vs. "Recourse to the Rhythm of the Cycle": Their Anthropological and Moral Differences, One Ultimately Entailing "Irreconcilable Concepts of the Human Person and of Human Sexuality" | 125 |
| A. | Contraception: Its Underlying Anthropology and Moral Methodology | 125 |
| B. | Recourse to the Rhythm of the Cycle: Its Underlying Anthropology and Moral Methodology | 132 |
| 3. | Contraception: An Anti-Life Act | 134 |
| 4. | Contraception: Both Anti-Love and Anti-Life | 137 |
| Appendix | Preventing Conception When in Danger of Rape or After Rape | 140 |
| Endnotes for Chapter Four | 142 | |
| Chapter 5 | Abortion and Human Life | 151 |
| Introduction: Structure of This Chapter | 151 | |
| 1. | Resume and Clarification of Church Teaching | 152 |
| A. | The Definition of Abortion | 153 |
| B. | "Ensoulment" or Infusion of the Immortal Soul | 153 |
| C. | "Direct" vs. "Indirect" Abortion | 154 |
| 2. | It is Reasonable to Believe that Most People Begin at Fertilization and Unreasonable to Deny This | 156 |
| Rejection of Opinions Denying This Truth | ||
| A. | Personhood Requires Exercisable Cognitive Abilities | 159 |
| B. | Personhood Depends on Sense Organs and a Brain: The "Delayed Hominization" Theory | 162 |
| C. | Individual Personhood Cannot Be Established Before Implantation | 166 |
| 3. | The Special Moral Gravity of Abortion, a Woman's "Right" to Abortion, the Difference Between a "Right" and a "Liberty" | 170 |
| A. | The Unique Moral Gravity of Abortion | 170 |
| B. | A Woman's "Right" to an Abortion | 172 |
| C. | The Difference Between a "Right" and a "Liberty" | 174 |
| 4. | Abortion as "Removal" vs. Abortion as "Killing" | 176 |
| A. | Lee's Analysis and Position | 177 |
| B. | Critique | 179 |
| 5. | The Management of Ectopic Pregnancies | 182 |
| A. | Ectopic Pregnancies and Their Frequency | 182 |
| B. | Medically Available Procedures for Coping with Ectopic Pregnancies | 182 |
| C. | The Ethical and Religious Directives | 183 |
| D. | Current Theological Debate Over Management of Tubal Pregnancies | 184 |
| Conclusion to Chapter Five | 186 | |
| Endnotes for Chapter Five | 186 | |
| Chapter 6 | Experimentation on Human Subjects | 199 |
| 1. | Introduction: The Cardinal Principle of Free and Informed Consent | 199 |
| A. | Basic Types of Experimentation | 201 |
| B. | The Key Principle or "Canon of Loyalty": The Principle of Free and Informed Consent | 201 |
| 2. | Proxy Consent: Its Meaning, Justification, and Limits | 205 |
| A. | Proxy Consent in the Therapeutic Situation | 205 |
| B. | Proxy Consent in the Nontherapeutic Situation | 206 |
| 3. | Research on the Unborn, In Particular, Embryonic Stem-Cell Research | 213 |
| A. | What Are Human Embryonic Stem Cells and Why Are They Used for Research? | 214 |
| B. | Legitimate Sources of Stem Cells for Research | 215 |
| 4. | Genetic Therapy | 215 |
| A. | Gene Therapy: Its Definition and Types | 215 |
| B. | How Gene Therapy "Works" | 216 |
| C. | Strategies for Gene Therapy | 217 |
| D. | Delivering Therapeutic Genes | 218 |
| E. | The Morality of Somatic Cell Gene Therapy | 218 |
| F. | Germ-line "Therapy" | 219 |
| 5. | Prenatal and Pre-Implantation Screening | 220 |
| A. | Prenatal Diagnosis and Screening | 220 |
| B. | Pre-implantation Diagnosis and Screening | 223 |
| 6. | Genetic Counseling | 224 |
| 7. | The Human Genome Project | 227 |
| Endnotes for Chapter Six | 228 | |
| Chapter 7 | Euthanasia, Assisted Suicide, and Care of the Dying | 235 |
| The Contemporary Movement for Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide | 235 | |
| 1. | Clarifying the Terminology | 238 |
| 2. | The "Ethics of Euthanasia" | 240 |
| A. | Voluntary Active Euthanasia | 240 |
| B. | Nonvoluntary Euthanasia | 243 |
| C. | The Legal or Jurisprudential Issue | 245 |
| D. | Summary and Conclusion: The "Ethics of Euthanasia" | 246 |
| 3. | Critique of the "Ethics of Euthanasia" | 246 |
| A. | Autonomy and Voluntary Euthanasia vs. the Sanctity of Life | 247 |
| B. | "Quality of Life" Judgments and Justice | 249 |
| C. | Dualism and Euthanasia | 250 |
| D. | Voluntary Active Euthanasia and the Law | 251 |
| 4. | The "Ethics of Benemortasia" | 252 |
| A. | The Intrinsic Good of Human Life and the Evil of Intentional Killing | 252 |
| B. | Criteria for Distinguishing Between "Ordinary" ("Proportionate") and "Extraordinary" ("Disproportionate") Treatments | 254 |
| C. | Summary: The Presuppositions of the "Ethics of Benemortasia" | 262 |
| 5. | Caring for the Permanently Unconscious and Persons in the "Persistent Vegetative State" | 263 |
| A. | Description of "Persistent Vegetative State" | 263 |
| B. | Recommendations by Professional Bodies, etc.: PVS Patients, Consciousness, and Pain | 264 |
| C. | Responses by U.S. Bishops | 266 |
| D. | The Theological Position That Providing Tubal Feeding to PVS Patients Is Futile and Unduly Burdensome | 267 |
| E. | The Theological Position Claiming That Tubal Feeding of PVS Patients is Obligatory | 268 |
| 6. | Advance Directives | 270 |
| A. | The Living Will | 270 |
| B. | The Durable Power of Attorney | 270 |
| Endnotes for Chapter Seven | 273 | |
| Chapter 8 | Defining Death and Organ Transplantation | 283 |
| Introduction | 283 | |
| Procedure | 285 | |
| 1. | Pope John Paul II on Death | 286 |
| A. | The Value of Human Life, Including Bodily Life | 286 |
| B. | The Meaning of Death | 287 |
| C. | Human Death and Organ Transplants | 288 |
| 2. | The Conclusions of the "Working Group" of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences | 289 |
| A. | The Clinical Definition of Death | 289 |
| B. | Clinical Indications That Death Has Occurred | 290 |
| C. | Artificial Prolongation of Organ Functions | 290 |
| 3. | The Rationale for Identifying "Brain Death" With Human Death | 291 |
| A. | Historical Background | 291 |
| B. | The Consensus on "Brain Death": The Report of the President's Commission | 292 |
| C. | The Presuppositions Underlying This Consensus | 293 |
| 4. | D. Alan Shewmon's Challenge to "Brain Death" | 294 |
| A. | Evidence Challenging the Claim That the Brain Is the Central Integrating Organ of the Whole Body | 295 |
| B. | Criteria for Determining the "Integrative Unity" of the Human Body | 297 |
| C. | New Criteria for Determining That Death Has Occurred | 298 |
| D. | A Suggested Protocol for Organ Transplants From the "Brain-Dead" | 299 |
| E. | Responses to Shewmon's Critique of "Brain Death" | 302 |
| F. | Conclusion: Retrieving Organs From Persons Declared Brain-Dead | 305 |
| 5. | Organ Donation From the Living (Inter Vivos) | 306 |
| Endnotes for Chapter Eight | 310 | |
| Bibliography and Resources | 317 | |
| Index | 323 |
Overview
William E. May is the ...