At the time of this writing, a group from Virginia had just revealed that they have been producing human embyros from human reproductive cells for the express purpose of experimentation. (Washington Post 7/11/01) A day later it was reported that a group from Massachusetts is attempting to clone human embryos also for the express purpose of experimentation. (Washington Post 7/12/01) Essentially these groups are producing human beings for consumption just like animal farms. How prophetic George Lucas was when his character, Obi Wan Kenobi spoke about the "clone wars" in Star Wars. Now with the race to produce human embryos and clones, the clone wars are a REALITY. And now there are laboratories with thousands of frozen human embryos and we are immersed in a struggle to limit experimentation and cloning.

How did we get here?
In order to get to the heart of the matter, we have to go back to 1968. In that year, Pope Paul VI issued the landmark document Humanae Vitae. In this document, he defined "the unitive significance and the procreative significance" as co-essential properties of the conjugal act. (HV 12) In other words, the true dignity a man and a woman coming together in marital relations necessarily includes the love between husband and wife, which is expressed in the physical union of the two, and an openness to life--a child. Any separation of love and life violates the dignity of the conjugal act.

The issue at hand in 1968 was contraception, and as we know, Humanae Vitae was not well received by a major portion of the Catholic Church. Consternation over the teaching of Humanae Vitae caused wholesale dissent among theologians, a mass exodus from the clergy and religious orders and a general rejection of the teaching by pastors and teachers at all levels in the Church. Nonetheless, Paul VI was prophetic in his own right since his teaching in Humanae Vitae not only excludes the use of contraception, but it also excludes in vitro fertilization (IVF) or what was sometimes known in the early 1980's as test tube babies.

The love and life principle in Humanae Vitae safeguards the sanctity of the conjugal act and it places the conception of new human life exclusively in this context. Contraception is a separation of life from love. In vitro fertilization, which is conceiving a child outside the physical union of the couple, is a separation of love from life. The biotechnology to create human beings in the laboratory did not exist when Paul VI issued Humanae Vitae, but he foresaw that if the integrity of the conjugal act was not protected, a host of violations against the dignity of the human person would inevitably ensue. In other words, there is no dignity of the human person outside marriage and family. When marriage and family fall into chaos, the dignity of the human person will inevitably fall as well.

As the biotechnology developed, the Church had to make her teaching on the sanctity of the conjugal act more explicit with regard to IVF. So Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger as head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith issued Donum Vitae (Gift of Life), an instruction on bioethics. The heart of Donum Vitae reaffirms the principle of love and life in Humanae Vitae. The conjugal act in which the couple mutually expresses their openness to life must also express their mutual self-gift, which is both spiritual and corporal. (cf. DV B,4) "Fertilization achieved outside the bodies of the couple remains by this very fact deprived of the meanings and the values which are expressed in the language of the body and in the union of human persons." (DV B,4) Catholics believe that "two in one flesh" is a profound and essential dimension of the conjugal act. (cf. Gen. 24)

Donum Vitae also brings to light the rights of the child. Not only do children, regardless of their state of development, have a right of life and protection, but they also have right "to be conceived, carried in the womb, brought into the world and brought up within marriage." (DV A,1) Being conceived and brought into the world within God's design corresponds to the dignity of the human person. So even in the case of a loving faithful couple, who cannot conceive on their own, no one has a right to a child. A child is a gift. Moreover, a child is the crowning gift, from the Creator, to the mutual self-gift of the spouses.

If the sacred character of the conjugal act and the rights of the child were understood and respected, issues like embryonic stem cell research, embryo adoption, and cloning would be non-issues. However, Humanae Vitae continues to be one of the most misunderstood documents of the Church and in many cases it is completely ignored. And Donum Vitae, for all practical purposes, is a dead issue in the Church.

By the way, these two teaching documents are not just meant for Catholics. They speak of about human nature, which is universal, and they seek to safeguard the basic common good of human society. Needless to say, IVF is a common and accepted practice in society, which is why we are now fighting the clone wars. As long as IVF continues, human embryos will continue to be the objects of production, cloning, storage, marketing and experimentation. The future of this exploding reality is so horrifying that very few people seem willing to truly confront the heart of the challenge.

Where do we go from here?
First and foremost it must be said that many groups are heroically trying to curb the tidal assault on human embryos by attempting to enact prohibitive legislation and/or by blocking federal funding. They should be applauded and supported in every way. However, our efforts to curb the tide through limitations on research still cooperate with an ongoing practice that is by its nature contrary to the good of society-namely IVF. Even with limitations on research, IVF continues and countless human beings are produced and stored or destroyed.

Here we should recall Pope John Paul II's teaching regarding imperfect legislation in Evangelium Vitae.

When it is not possible to overturn or completely abrogate a pro-abortion law, an elected official, whose absolute personal opposition to procured abortion was well known, could licitly support proposals aimed at limiting the harm done by such a law and at lessening its negative consequences at the level of general opinion and public morality. (EV 73)

The effort to defend human embryos should analogous to our efforts to limit abortion, which has the explicit goal of stopping the practice. Our efforts to limit harm against human embryos should be explicitly oriented to stopping IVF. The factory-like production of human beings in fertility labs is the real problem. Continued IVF is simply contrary to the common good of society and it will utterly shatter what is left of human dignity. Obviously we are currently in no position to enact legislation against IVF, but as we work for progress, our opposition to IVF, as the John Paul II has put it, should be "well known." (EV 73) Our opposition to IVF, and why, are a part of the enormous teaching project at hand. At whatever level in the effort to protect human embryos, explaining the dignity of conjugal relations and why IVF is wrong will have to be part of our jobs.

A comprehensive vision
John Paul II has been trying to develop and promote an "adequate anthropology" all throughout his pontificate. For the Holy Father, an adequate anthropology is a comprehensive and profound understanding of the human person, marriage and the family, which answers why contraception, IVF and same-sex unions are not a part of the complete dignity of the person. This comprehensive vision is contained in Gaudium et Spes, Humanae Vitae, Donum Vitae, Familiaris Consortio, The Theology of the Body and Mulieris Dignitatem (On the Dignity and Vocation of Women). Let's face it, the clone wars are here and we have lost a lot of ground already. In order to fight this war and start taking ground back, we will have to come to a deeper understanding of the teaching contained in these documents. Our understanding of the teaching has to be good enough so that we can present its beauty to a hostile public. No one said the clone wars would be easy. Obi Wan not only survived, but went on to train the next generation. We must do the same.
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Mo is the Executive Director of the Human Family Foundation