Thought for the week catholic bioethics

Follow the Science

Ectopic pregnancy is a sad and tragic outcome for about 2% of all pregnancies, or 1 in 50.(1) In an ectopic pregnancy, the fertilized ovum, instead of making its intended trip down the fallopian tube to implant in the uterus, instead implants elsewhere, usually in the fallopian tube itself …

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Thought for the week catholic bioethics

Womb with a View

Ectopic pregnancy is a sad and tragic outcome for about 2% of all pregnancies, or 1 in 50.(1) In an ectopic pregnancy, the fertilized ovum, instead of making its intended trip down the fallopian tube to implant in the uterus, instead implants elsewhere, usually in the fallopian tube itself …

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Thought for the week catholic bioethics

Deception, Lies and Libel

One of the criticisms often levied against me, and others of my philosophical bent, is that we excessively use analogies between medical ethical issues and Nazi Germany. Conventional wisdom is that the holocaust should be The Holocaust, an event unique in human history…If only it were true.

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Thought for the week catholic bioethics

Are you “cool” with evil?

One of the criticisms often levied against me, and others of my philosophical bent, is that we excessively use analogies between medical ethical issues and Nazi Germany. Conventional wisdom is that the holocaust should be The Holocaust, an event unique in human history…If only it were true.

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Thought for the week catholic bioethics

Perhaps Dr. Frankenstein Was Just Misunderstood

One of the criticisms often levied against me, and others of my philosophical bent, is that we excessively use analogies between medical ethical issues and Nazi Germany. Conventional wisdom is that the holocaust should be The Holocaust, an event unique in human history…If only it were true.

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Thought for the week catholic bioethics

Murder for Amateurs

One of the criticisms often levied against me, and others of my philosophical bent, is that we excessively use analogies between medical ethical issues and Nazi Germany. Conventional wisdom is that the holocaust should be The Holocaust, an event unique in human history…If only it were true.

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Thought for the week catholic bioethics

A Modest Proposal

One of the criticisms often levied against me, and others of my philosophical bent, is that we excessively use analogies between medical ethical issues and Nazi Germany. Conventional wisdom is that the holocaust should be The Holocaust, an event unique in human history…If only it were true.

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Thought for the week catholic bioethics

1810 All Over Again

One of the criticisms often levied against me, and others of my philosophical bent, is that we excessively use analogies between medical ethical issues and Nazi Germany. Conventional wisdom is that the holocaust should be The Holocaust, an event unique in human history…If only it were true.

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Thought for the week catholic bioethics

Better promiscuity through chemistry

One of the criticisms often levied against me, and others of my philosophical bent, is that we excessively use analogies between medical ethical issues and Nazi Germany. Conventional wisdom is that the holocaust should be The Holocaust, an event unique in human history…If only it were true.

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Thought for the week catholic bioethics

“But Catholics” and genocides 

One of the criticisms often levied against me, and others of my philosophical bent, is that we excessively use analogies between medical ethical issues and Nazi Germany. Conventional wisdom is that the holocaust should be The Holocaust, an event unique in human history…If only it were true.

Read More »
Thought for the week catholic bioethics

Children of a lesser god, Part 3

This week, we find ourselves thinking about another group of very vulnerable human lives, those that are less than 6 days old, or so. Like newly hatched sea turtles returning to the ocean from the beach, the journey of the youngest children, from the fallopian tube to the uterus is fraught with hazard

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Thought for the week catholic bioethics

Sex, gender, beanie babies and lost luggage

People and societies are funny things. We are subject to fads. Mass hysteria of a sort, wherein something catches the public’s attention and, without good reason, takes hold of the culture and dominates the media, purchasing and personality. Most of us remember the beanie babies

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Thought for the week catholic bioethics

Children of a lesser god? Part 2

Last week, we discussed the, likely, millions of children who have been conceived through the evil of invitro fertilization (IVF) and now are frozen in a secular limbo, awaiting adoption (unlikely), death (more likely) or donation to “research” (repulsive). These children, created in the image and likeness of God, are the innocent victims

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Thought for the week catholic bioethics

Children of a lesser god?

Netflix is a repository for some truly heinous programming. If television is often some kind of junk food for the intellect, then Netflix is, perhaps, the equivalent of vending machine burritos, or gas station sushi; not really good for you. Nevertheless, we all occasionally stroll in the gutter

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Thought for the week catholic bioethics

Patriarchy and the “war on women”

In the echo chamber of the pro-abortion popular media (which is almost redundant, after all, is any of the popular media pro-life?) common phrases used to disparage the pro-life position are, “forced birth”, “misogynistic ruling class” and “patriarchy”, or “GOP patriarchy” when political parties are included. In a perverse twist of logic,

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Thought for the week catholic bioethics

John Fetterman, disability and dignity

Ethics are non-political. An action is either right or wrong and its ethics, or lack thereof, are independent of political parties. In some sense, one may say that politics are the opposite of ethics. Ethics simply are.

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Euphemisms prevent honest discussion.

Whether one calls it a child, fetus, embryo or clump of cells, at conception, the fertilized ovum is undoubtedly a human life. It is clearly alive and clearly human, albeit at a very early and unrecognizable stage. That early stage, however, does not make it any less human.

Abortion is the intentional termination of that human life and claiming otherwise is intellectually dishonest. The only honest discussion is, at what point is a human life worthy of protection?

Similarly, euphemisms like, “quality of life” and “meaningful consciousness” are used in the elderly and infirm to also make them less worthy of protection. The “scarce medical resources” straw man argument often surfaces here, that is, why use scarce medical resources on those who are afflicted with Alzheimer’s Disease, other dementias and severe brain injuries?

We Catholics believe that every human life, from conception to natural death is inherently and unconditionally valuable, regardless of age, disability, economic circumstance, parentage and any other modifier. Every human life, in the Catholic view, is in the likeness and image of God and equally deserving of protection. People can disagree, but those should be honest discussions.

“Reproductive health care” and “meaningless existence” are little different than the terms “special handling”, “evacuation” and “lebenswertes leben” (life unworthy of life), which the Nazis used to obfuscate extermination of Jews, Gypsies, the disabled and mentally ill. Anytime a human life is made less equal, because it is somehow less human and less worthy of protection, starts us down a slippery slope that has, over and over again in history, had horrific results.

Can’t happen in this era? Iceland has practically eliminated Down Syndrome by simply aborting each and every unborn human life with that diagnosis. Even those who believe abortion is acceptable in some circumstances, should be chilled by this. #prolife

 

George Mychaskiw II, DO, FAAP, FACOP, FASA
President
Saint Padre Pio Institute for the Relief of Suffering, School of Osteopathic Medicine (proposed)