It’s only natural for Catholics to feel appalled and shocked at the gruesome business of fetal body part sales, but it’s important that we move beyond the emotional in order to understand exactly why this kind of research is against the teachings of our faith.

LifeNews.com has published an article by Dr. Denise Jackson Hunnell, a Fellow of Human Life International who holds a BA in both biochemistry and psychology, who says the use of fetal tissue in research, most of it likely to have been obtained from abortions, has been going on for decades. Some advocates, such as Hollywood celebrity Sarah Silverman, tweeted about how “insane” it would be not to use “perfectly good” fetal tissue for the greater good of science.

As Doctor Hunnell explains, tissue obtained from aborted fetuses can never be “perfectly good”.

“The fact that the tissue proffered by Planned Parenthood was obtained by the intrinsically evil act of abortion renders this tissue morally unsuitable for medical and scientific purposes. The Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services explicitly forbids the use of fetal tissue obtained from direct abortions for either research or therapeutic purposes.”

In addition, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith document, Donum Vitae, also directly addresses this issue: “The corpses of human embryos and fetuses, whether they have been deliberately aborted or not, must be respected just as the remains of other human beings.”

“In particular, they cannot be subjected to mutilation or to autopsies if their death has not yet been verified and without the consent of the parents or of the mother. Furthermore, the moral requirements must be safeguarded that there be no complicity in deliberate abortion and that the risk of scandal be avoided. Also, in the case of dead fetuses, as for the corpses of adult persons, all commercial trafficking must be considered illicit and should be prohibited,” Hunnell writes.

However, it’s important to understand that the use of human tissue for scientific and medical use, including that of unborn human beings, not intrinsically wrong.

“The Church encourages organ and tissue donation when it is done according to strict moral standards. These standards include obtaining full informed consent from the donor or his surrogate and only accepting organs and tissue if such a donation will not severely impair or fatally harm the donor. Fetal tissue obtained after a miscarriage or stillbirth and donated with the full consent of the parents offers no moral impediment to its use. It is similar to a family donating the organs and tissue of a deceased loved one.”

On the other hand, Hunnell writes, we don’t remove vital organs from living donors because that would cause the donor’s death. “It is morally permissible for a living donor to donate one kidney but not both. One cannot justify the evil act of taking an organ donor’s life by the good obtained from the organ donation.”

This is why Planned Parenthood’s acquisition of fetal baby parts fails the ethics test.

“First, and foremost, as stated above, the act of abortion is itself intrinsically evil. It takes the life of an innocent human being with total disregard for the sanctity of this life and intrinsic human dignity. Anyone who encourages abortion in order to obtain fetal tissue is guilty of formal cooperation with this evil. Those who may not actively encourage abortion but do not hesitate to make use of organs and tissue from aborted fetuses commodify the human body and are, at a minimum, guilty of material cooperation with this evil. This alone is enough to justify the outrage evoked by the undercover Planned Parenthood videos.”

Another ethical issue would be the manner in which Planned Parenthood obtains the consent of the mother. Was the woman told the whole truth about what would be donated – the liver, heart, kidneys of a human being – or just the “products of conception"? Were they aware that the abortion procedure could be altered in order to procure the requested tissue?

Hunnell concludes: “The immorality of using aborted fetuses for medical research is based on far more than our visceral response to graphic pictures, the blatant commercialization of fetal body parts, and the overt callousness of Planned Parenthood staff. The current outrage can only be sustained if we understand the moral principles that underlie our revulsion. In order to persuade others and effect both a cultural and legal change that protects unborn children we must be able to rationally, calmly, and clearly articulate our moral objections.”

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