The Bishops’ Conference of France has condemned the manipulation of France's first “savior sibling.”
Umut Talha, whose name in Turkish means “hope,” was born Jan. 26 at a
hospital in Paris.
The boy was “designed” through in vitro
fertilization and genetic selection to cure one of his siblings of a
serious genetic disease that causes anemia and requires repeated blood
transfusions.
Using in vitro fertilization, scientists conceived a number of
embryos and discarded those considered “unfit.”
They then implanted the
embryo that did not carry the disease so that the baby could be a
compatible donor.
In the future, cells extracted from Umut’s umbilical cord could be transplanted to his older brother to cure him.
In their statement issued Feb. 9, the French bishops noted that the
desire “to cure a sibling for humane reasons is honorable.”
They
expressed their understanding of the parents’ sadness and their hope in a
medical solution, but stated, “to legalize the use of the most
vulnerable human beings to cure another is not worthy of man.
To
conceive a child in order to use him—even if to cure another human
being—is disrespectful of human dignity.”
“Utilitarianism is always a step backwards. It is dangerous for a
society not to respect the primordial interests of the child as
stipulated in the Convention on the Rights of Children,” the bishops
said.
They called for “acceptable research be carried out so appropriate therapeutic treatments will be found.”
Cardinal Andre Vingt-Trois of Paris rejected the use of “savior
siblings” as “the exploitation of one human being for another,” as he
spoke Feb. 8 before the French National Assembly.
It is wrong “to use
someone exclusively for another, as one child would become an instrument
for seeking a cure for another child. Are we going to turn each other
into instruments?” he asked.
The first “savior sibling” was born in the United States in 2000, followed by similar cases in Spain and Belgium.
The Church opposes the manipulation of persons as tools for
scientific research, and differentiates between the humane act of
wishing to help one’s neighbor from the use of defenseless persons as
instruments of research.
Catholic teaching also opposes in vitro fertilization for two main
reasons: First, because it is a procedure contrary to the natural order
of sexuality and attacks the dignity of the spouses and of marriage. The
technique also involves the elimination of human embryos both inside
and outside the womb, resulting in numerous abortions in each case.