From The Dignitatis Humanae Institute: British Parliament To Debate A Scientific Procedure Which Has Never Been Legal Anywhere Else. Ever.

Note:The following is a press release from The Dignitatis Humanae Institute

Rome, 3 December 2015

Today, Tuesday 3 February, the British House of Commons will debate an alteration to the 1990 Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act, which will allow for the first time the creation of persons comprised of DNA from three parents.

Besides concerns about the safety of the scientific procedure known as mitochondrial donation - which has never been allowed legally anywhere - there are also ethical concerns that British parliamentarians will have to consider.

In one of the two techniques, pronuclear transfer, two embryos are created and combined to produce a healthy embryo, resulting in the destruction of the embryo created from the donor egg. The other technique, maternal spindle transfer, involves the manipulation of the egg cell outside of the womb, combining egg cells from two different women.

British Parliamentarian Lord Alton of Liverpool, the Convenor of the DHI's Cross Party Working Group on Human Dignity, said: "It is essential to voice support for those who suffer from mitochondrial diseases and to ensure that medical care is always sufficient. At the same time, it is equally important that scientific progress is in line with human dignity, which it must serve, rather than vice versa. It is not morally acceptable, and it can never be morally acceptable, to destroy one person, harvesting their DNA for the needs of another person, which one of these two methods permits. This is the fast road to any of the futuristic dystopias one can find at any cinema."

The ethical implications of the proposed methods for mitochondrial donation include:

1. Embryo destruction: In the case of pronuclear transfer, an embryo - a human life at its earliest stage - is destroyed when its pronuclei are removed and transferred to the healthy embryo, which has had its own pronuclei removed. Neither embryo is being treated with dignity: the healthy embryo is being bred and made to carry genetic material that is not its own, while supplying healthy mitochondria.
2. Modifying the germline: Both techniques create what can be called 'genetically modified babies'. This may open the door to more possibilities of modifying babies even before they are conceived or implanted.
3. Parenthood: The notion of parenthood, of one mother and one father who have produced their offspring together, is blurred. Furthermore, conception is yet further divorced from the conjugal act.

DHI Chairman Luca Volontè said of the forthcoming UK parliamentary debate: "In modifying the person either at the embryonic stage (by giving a living embryo new genetic information), or by modifying the egg cells which, together with the sperm cells, are basic sex cells that form new life, personhood is diluted, the human body is commoditised and scientific practice gallops towards the normalisation of eugenics. It is a sign of how far we have come that in less than two generations, when IVF was first successfully tested in 1978, people are now so inured to scientific 'advancements', many can no longer see the massive evil latent hiding under the outer aspect of 'something good'."

The Dignitatis Humanae Instituteaims to uphold human dignity based on the anthropological truth that man is born in the image and likeness of God and therefore has an innate human dignity of infinite worth to be upheld. The Institute promotes this understanding by supporting Christians in public life, assisting them to present effective and coherent responses to increasing efforts to silence the Christian voice in the public square.

Same-Sex Couple to Sue Church of England for Marriage Rights | Daily News | NCRegister.com

The following excerpts are from National Catholic Register's Daily News:

• Following legislation that permits same-sex “marriage” in the U.K. yet prohibits the Church of England from performing the ceremony, two men are planning to sue to be able to marry in their church.
• “We are happy for gay marriage to be recognized — in that sense, it is a big step. But it is actually a small step because it is something we still cannot actually do,” Barrie Drewitt-Barlow told the Essex Chronicle Aug. 1.
• “We need to convince the church that it is the right thing for our community for them to recognize as practicing Christians.”
• On July 17, the U.K.’s same-sex “marriage” bill became law, meaning that, beginning next year, same-sex couples — who can already obtain civil unions — can become married in England and Wales, though not in Scotland or Northern Ireland.
• The legislation allows churches and other religious groups to conduct wedding ceremonies for same-sex couples at the church’s discretion, though the U.K.’s established church, the Church of England, is barred from doing so.
• Drewitt-Barlow and his partner, Tony, are members of the Church of England, and they are upset that they will not be able to marry in their own church.

Read more by clicking below:
Same-Sex Couple to Sue Church of England for Marriage Rights | Daily News | NCRegister.com

From The Dignitatis Humanae Institute: Investigation Announced into Notorious UK Death-Acceleration Programme

Note: The following is a press release from The Dignitatis Humanae Institute

Investigation Announced into Notorious UK Death-Acceleration Programme

London, 27 October 2012

After months of refusal and prevaricating, a probe has finally been announced into the conduct of Liverpool Care Pathway (LCP); a framework widely criticised by families whose relatives have unknowingly been placed on this 'pathway to death.'

 The Association of Palliative Medicine has ordered the review into the concerns. The National End of Life Care Programme, an NHS affiliate, will coordinate several organisations in the review.  While critics welcomed this initial step, the move falls short of the Government Inquiry recently called for by the Reverend Peter Smith, Archbishop of Southwark.

LCP is a framework used to dictate the withdrawal of palliative care from those who are seen as close to death.  This includes the withdrawal of nutrients and medicine from the patient, heavy doses of morphine and consequently dehydration.  Such a practice is questioned by the Medical Ethics Alliance, who asserts that any such decision is essentially a prediction, with no conclusive scientific evidence.  This is highlighted by the case of Andy Flanagan, whose family revived him, rescued him from LCP and brought him home to live for a further five weeks. 

The protestations of the Flanagan family added to the many complaints against LCP.  The Royal College of Physicians has uncovered that up to half of families are not informed their loved ones have been placed on LCP.  In particular, when Mr Cooper (pictured) discovered his wife had been condemned to LCP without his knowledge, medical staff refused to reverse the decision in spite of his wishes.  

It has also been noted that the number of patients placed on LCP has doubled in the past two years.  Critics have suggested hospitals are beginning to use LCP as a cost-cutting measure, against patients who are made to feel like a burden to society.

Speaking on behalf of the British Parliament's Cross-Party Working Group on Human Dignity, Jim Dobbin MP, its Vice-Chairman, asserted the necessity of this investigation: "We would do well to recall the words of Pope John Paul II - 'A society will be judged on the basis of how it treats its weakest members and among the most vulnerable are surely the unborn and the dying.'  The practices of Liverpool Care Pathway are surely not the best we can do for the elderly and the dying of our society, there is no dignity in the deaths proscribed here.  Such decisions as to the best care must always be made by the loved ones and families of the patient; Liverpool Care Pathway has resoundingly failed on this account and should certainly be investigated for it."

The Dignitatis Humanae Institute aims to uphold human dignity based on the anthropological truth that man is born in the image and likeness of God and therefore has an innate human dignity of infinite worth to be upheld. The Institute promotes this understanding by supporting Christians in public life, assisting them to present effective and coherent responses to increasing efforts to silence the Christian voice in the public square.

UK MEP: We Should be Given Monthly Audit of All Taxpayer-Funded Abortions

For Immediate Release   Rome, 28th February 2012   A senior Member of the European Parliament has called on the UK government to carry out a monthly audit of all abortions that receive funding from the British taxpayer, after a newspaper exposed terminations being illegally carried out on the basis of gender. Nirj Deva MEP, President of the International Committee on Human Dignity, said such an audit would ensure that the British people "can finally begin an informed debate on how much public money funds abortions on the basis of nothing but gender." Following news of the practice reported in London's Daily Telegraph on February 23rd, Health Secretary Andrew Lansley pledged to carry out an urgent and thorough investigation, and handed the matter over to the police. He called illegal abortion "morally repugnant". The head of the Care Quality Commission - the body tasked with regulating such practices - resigned after the story broke. Deva, who recently came second in the elections for the European Parliament's Speaker, congratulated the government for its "prompt response" and praised Lansley for "his brave, principled stance".   The MEP said he knew from experience the kind of hostility the minister could now expect. "Several years ago I introduced an amendment to the EU's Development Budget, demanding a gender audit on every overseas abortion that is paid for by EU taxpayers - this was before people were talking much about the issue of gendercide," Deva said. "Sadly, the socialists and liberals joined together to defeat my amendment, saying explicitly that a woman's right to choose an abortion must remain sacrosanct, including the right to choose not to have a girl." Deva added that these latest revelations, which the newspaper exposed through undercover reporting, regrettably came as no surprise: "For me it was a bit like the famous scene in Casablanca when Claude Rains exclaims to Humphrey Bogart: "I'm shocked, shocked to find that there's gambling going on in here" while simultaneously pocketing in one smooth action his evening's winnings." "If you talk to people in the abortion industry, they all know that this is happening, but it's obviously not in their commercial interests to talk about it, so they just impose a culture of silence, and then intimidate anyone who dares to challenge them. My own modest proposal for an analysis of abortions was roundly defeated by those whose vested interests keep the abortion trade out of the public domain, away from clear legal parameters and solely within their own power," he said. "I remember observing with sadness that the ideological fanaticism of some of the UK's MEPs from the political Left who were advocating a so-called liberty for mothers abroad that is illegal at home." "The very people claiming that their support of abortion derives from 'gender equality' are in fact actively promoting a life-killing practice of gender inequality." Deva said statistics from around the world clearly prove that gender-selected abortions heavily discriminate against the female gender. "It is the duty of all who genuinely believe in gender equality to open their eyes to the most grievous injustice dealt to women globally, the very denial of their basic right to life," he said. "I would like, therefore, on behalf of the Dignitatis Humanae Institute, to offer a helpful contribution to the debate and ask that every single abortion that is funded by the British taxpayer, either wholly or in part, has the gender recorded of each baby being terminated, and for these results to be compiled and made public on a monthly basis," he said. Deva, who is also the Vice President of the European Parliament's Development Committee, also invited politicians in other parliaments around the world to contact him for advice on how to table similar amendments in their own national assemblies by emailing him at nirj.deva@dignitatishumanae.com. "The time has come for full disclosure," Deva concluded.

The Dignitatis Humanae Institute aims to uphold human dignity based on the anthropological truth that man is born in the image and likeness of God and therefore has an innate human dignity of infinite worth to be upheld. The Institute promotes this understanding by supporting Christians in public life, assisting them to present effective and coherent responses to increasing efforts to silence the Christian voice in the public square.