ROME — The Vatican has issued a piercing criticism of the “deplorable” practice of human infertility, calling for its universal ban.
In its declaration titled Dignitas Infinita, released Monday, the Vatican’s doctrinal office ( DDF) said that surrogacy reduces the child to the status of” a mere object”.
The word goes on to reject” so- called substitute motherhood”, which disrespects animal life, turning the newborn baby in the mother’s womb into” an object of trafficking”.
According to the report, infertility “represents a grave violation of the integrity of the person and the child” and draws on” the oppression of circumstances involving the family’s material wants.”
” A baby is always a surprise and never the foundation of a professional contract”, the charter states, citing Pope Francis.
A baby handed over to Pope Francis to bless grabs onto his cross as he arrives for his weekly general audience in St. Peter’s Square, at the Vatican, Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2019 ( Gregorio Borgia/AP ).
Every individual child possesses an “intangible respect” that is clearly expressed at every step of his or her life, the DDF declares, from the very “moment of conception”.
The child has the right to live a life that demonstrates both the integrity of the giver and the receiver, according to the article’s continuing statement about this rights dignity.
The word contends that a child’s genuine desire to have a baby” may be transformed into a “right to a baby” if that does not regard the dignity of the child as the recipient of life.
Along with the child, surrogacy also violates the dignity of the woman, the document continues, “whether she is coerced into it or chooses to subject herself to it freely”.
The woman is “distanced from the child growing in her and becomes a mere means subservient to the arbitrary gain or desire of others,” it states, which is in stark contrast to” the fundamental dignity of every human being and with each person’s right to be recognized always as an individual and never as an instrument for another”.
Just last week, Michigan Gov. Women can now be hired to carry a pregnancy and give birth to a child for another family thanks to Gretchen Whitmer’s lifting of the state’s” compensated surrogacy” ban.
In this image, Governor, Governor, and the Governor provide the executive office of Michigan. Gretchen Whitmer speaks during a news conference Friday, May 29, 2020, in Lansing, Mich. ( Michigan Executive Office of the Governor via AP )
The move will be criticized harshly by the Michigan Catholic Conference, which claims it will exploit the less fortunate and less fortunate.
Paul Long, president of the Michigan Catholic Conference, warned that the new law will allow the wealthy to “get a child at the expense of women in financial need.”
According to Long,” For-profit surrogacy contracts that pay women for the use of their reproductive means violate the inherent dignity of women and unethically permit children to be the subject of contracts.”
The Michigan Catholic Conference predicted that legalizing paid surrogacy would lead to a” surge in surrogacy agencies and attorneys whose work is centered on negotiating contracts between couples or individuals with means and vulnerable, cash-strapped young women for the conception, birth, and forfeit of a child.”
The new declaration from the Vatican addresses the surrogacy issue in the context of “human dignity,” which underlies” the supremacy of the human person and the protection of human rights.”
