The Roman Catholic Church position stems from the view that human life begins now of conception and should be protected accordingly. Earlier arguments involving a distinction foetus were discontinued after the interference of Pope Paul VI in 1869. For the past twenty years, Roman Catholicism has been struggling with the tension between the traditional position of the central teaching authority of the church on population issues and various moves to change the doctrine. Pope Paul VI in the papal encyclical Humane Vitae (1968) restated the traditional catholic condemnation of artificial conception stating that every conjugal act had to be open to the transmission of life.
In 1990, another law was passed called the Human Fertilization and the embryology act. The act states abortion is acceptable if the pregnancy is no longer than 24 weeks and if the pregnancy risks the mental or physical health of the pregnant women or any existing children of the family.
However there two possible exceptions:
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Ectopic pregnancy
Either may kill the mother if not treated but will kill the foetus if treated therefore the Roman Catholic Church use the ‘doctrine of double effect’.
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Mother developing cancer
- Ectopic pregnancy – if a foetus gets trapped in the fallopian tube and is not removed in an ectopic pregnancy it is done to save the mothers life not to kill the foetus. As the death of the foetus is a second effect, which is not intended, the operation is allowed.
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Mother developing cancer – if mother develops cancer while pregnant and receives treatment, it is not given to kill the foetus but the cancer, so the death of the foetus is secondary unintended (double effect) no abortion has been done.
Pro-life – they fight in the interest of the unborn child.
- Fight against people who support abortion e.g. doctors, judges;
- Go to government to change the law;
- They speak for the rights of the unborn child;
- Believe abortion is legalised murder;
- Physically and mentally handicapped children can lead simples life’s;
- Nurse and doctors are supposed to be trained to save a life not destroy it.
Pro-choice – they fight the interest of the mother.
- Believes women must have the right to chose whatever or not to have children;
- Aim to put the needs of woman’s central to it’s policy;
- Defend women’s reproductive life;
- Think abortion should be available on request;
- Easier to have an abortion then raising the child;
- Believe none has the right to force women to continue their pregnancy or have an abortion against her will;
- No certain 100% safe conception because abortion needs to be available.
Euthanasia
Euthanasia is the act of bringing about the easy and gentle death of a person, usually someone who is terminally ill or in great pain. For this reason it is often called ‘mercy killing’. Euthanasia does mean putting a premature end of lives of such people. Euthanasia is taken from a Greek word meaning ‘Easy Death’.
There are three types of euthanasia, they are:
- Voluntary (active) euthanasia – is when the person concerned asked someone else to help them die. They may ask another person to assist them to die or they may refuse the medical treatment necessary to keep them alive.
- Involuntary euthanasia – is when a person doesn’t ask to die, but is killed to avoid further suffering.
- Passive euthanasia – is when the person concerned is no longer in a condition where they can make a decision for themselves. The decision to bring about the death is taken by relatives or medical experts. Christianity teaches that all life comes from God.
The sixth commandment is that ‘You shall not kill’ (Exodus 20:30). It is clear from the bible that human beings are not to choose whether they live or die.
‘For every thing there is a reason, and a time for every matter under heaven, a time to be born, a time to die, a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted’ (Ecclesiastes: 1-4). This statement implies that God has a plan for us all.
The Roman Catholic Church is opposed to euthanasia because it is seen as murder. In Humanae Vitae, the Pope Paul VI that said all human life is scared and that all men must recognise that fact.
In any civilised society, it is morally unacceptable to even consider the possibility. The four reasons this is unacceptable are:
- Euthanasia is a murder.
- Euthanasia is contrary to the dignity of human beings.
- Euthanasia destroys the respect that is due to God, the beginning, and end of all life.
- There is a clear difference discounting treatment and actively killing someone. There are certain situations in which one simply cannot prevent the eventuality of death. These must be recognised and the decision to end treatment taken in consultation with the patient, if possible. If not then the closest relative should be involved.
However, if large doses of painkillers are used to help ease a persons suffering, and as a result, the person dies, this is understood as a double effect and is permitted.
Roman Catholic Church does not believe that doctors should use any extraordinary treatment to keep people alive. The Church of England holds a similar view, saying in 1992 that although the deliberation taking of a human life is forbidden, there are very strong arguments that people should not be kept alive at all costs when they are suffering intolerable pain.
The Christian Church’s encourage the support of hospices. Hospices are places for terminally ill people to be cared for and allowed to die in comfort and dignity without employing euthanasia. The first hospices were founded by Christians who were at the forefront in looking for compassionate alternatives to euthanasia.
The Roman Catholic Church opposes passive euthanasia that is when artificial means of sustaining life are either not offered or are removed.
Roman Catholic Christians believe that medical knowledge and understanding are inspired by God and therefore they should be used to prolong life whenever possible. In the end Christians believe only God can decide when a persons life will end.
The law says anyone doctors included who helps a patient to die risks being charged with manslaughter or murder.
There are many arguments for euthanasia, they are:
- God has given people authority over living.
- God wants people to have quality life.
- If someone has, no quality of life euthanasia might be acceptable.
- People have been given freewill people should be able to use this free will to end their own lives. A person may reach a point where his or her life is not worth living.
- People whose minds are so deteriorated that they are helpless and unable to live with any dignity at all. People who are brainstem dead and have no hope of recovering consciousness but whose bodies are still technically alive.
There are many arguments against euthanasia, they are:
- There may be a purpose to suffering.
- People may learn from it.
- Life is sacred euthanasia destroys life.
- Euthanasia destroys Gods temple.
- It is more compassionate to care for the dying than to speed up death.
The people from EXIT believe in voluntary euthanasia and that the law should be changed. They believe that a person who is incurably ill should be allowed by law to have a painless death. They also believe that doctors should be able to help patients that can’t be cured to die peacefully, provided the person has signed a statement making their wishes known 30 days before.
‘We have 20.000 requests for living wills each year, showing that a large proportion of the British people would like to see voluntary euthanasia become legal. Everyone should be able to have the mercy of a painless death” (Richard Hume of EXIT, the voluntary euthanasia society.)
In a living will, a person asks for euthanasia in the event that they become terminally ill and unable to communicate their own decisions to relatives or doctors.
Question 2
Q. “God gives life and only God can take it away”
Do you agree or disagree?
Give reasons for your answer, showing that you have considered more than one point of view.
The usual attitude on discussion on life and living by Christians is that,
“God gives life and only God can take it away.” This statement is outlined in Genesis 1:26-27.
Although this is the traditional view, some Christians do not have this view. On delicate issues such as abortion and euthanasia, they believe that it is better to terminate the life whether it is just beginning or ending, under certain circumstances.
Some people believe that people should be allowed to decide for themselves when they want to die as is the case for euthanasia, and for abortion, that, because it is the woman’s body she should be able to choose whether or not she wants to keep the baby. Catholics feel that by taking part in any premature killing they are not betraying their religion, this is because there is nowhere in the bible that encourages the maintenance of life in any way. This allows their sense of right and wrong to allow abortions and euthanasia. They believe that preserving a life beyond its natural span is wrong; also, that being kept alive by a machine is not life in a true sense. In the case of euthanasia, helping someone with a form of an incurable handicap or disease allows the person to die with dignity. This allows the person to die in a loving atmosphere; this also allows the relatives some sort of relief that their loved one does not have to endure a slow painful death. If compassion can be shown to animals over pain and suffering whether it is physical or mental then why are humans not shown the same compassion? Finally, the main reason people side with abortion and euthanasia is to stop some form of pain and suffering, in the case of euthanasia people are put out of physical and mental pain and abortion it is to relieve the person of mental pain.
The majority of Christians believe God is the only entity who has the right to end our life. This is because we have no place in playing God with anybody else’s life. This is because they believe that all human beings are equal by God, so no human is inferior to any other so we cannot judge the quality of someone’s life. Then there is the argument on the sanctity of life. According to religious teaching, life is a gift from God. Only God can decide when a life begins and ends. Any deliberate killing of the innocent without God's authority is wrong, and against the natural law. This extends to situations where a person's life is ended at their request. Voluntary euthanasia breaks this principle as well as abortion — people do not have the right to choose for themselves. Any form of killing conflicts against traditional Christian teaching places such as the commandment “Do not kill” any form of killing is murder (with the exception of self defence). As well as this argument it, in a sense goes against God’s plan, because some people believe that people possess certain diseases for a reason, whether it be to test them or to allow other Christians to put their Christian faith into practice as was outlined in the parables of the sheep and the goats. Also in the case of abortion one of the earliest Christian writings says,
“You shall not kill by the abortion the fruit of the womb and you shall not murder the infant already born.”
This states that you should not kill any potential life.
In conclusion, I agree with the original statement in theory because I feel we have no right judging the quality of people’s lives and that any termination of life is murder no matter what the circumstances however I fear that were I put in that situation I would change my view because I would have first hand experience. This would allow me to have first hand experience.
