Church Teaching Sanctity of Life
Catholics care about the sanctity of life because the entire purpose of each soul God endows with life is to find its way back to God by loving God and caring for all the souls God has placed around it. Voluntary termination of life any time between conception and natural death necessarily frustrates that purpose.
The source of human dignity is the likeness to God that is bestowed on each of us at the moment we are conceived. We respond appropriately to this gift by using all the time, talent, and treasure that God has entrusted to us to seek and grow closer to God, by sharing in His continuing act of creation and caring for those around us. Our first purpose is to seek God, especially in one another. If we do that, everything else will be given to us. Anything that interferes with that is contrary to the Word of God. Genesis chapter 1; Matthew chapters 6, 22 & 25
Abortion & Euthanasia
“You shall not kill.”
– the 5th Commandment
The right to life from conception to natural death is the foundation of all Catholic Social Teaching, and in particular, implies the illicitness of every form of procured abortion and of euthanasia. – 155, Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church
“This is not something subject to alleged reforms or ‘modernizations.’ It is not ‘progressive’ to try to resolve problems by eliminating a human life.”
Pope Francis, Evangelii Gaudium 214
Human Engineering
Cloning and Cell Manipulation
An issue of particular social and cultural significance today, because of its many and serious moral implications, is human cloning… the simple replication of normal cells or of a portion of DNA presents no particular ethical problem. Very different, however, is cloning understood in the proper sense. Such cloning is contrary to the dignity of human procreation because it takes place in total absence of an act of personal love between spouses, being agamic and asexual reproduction. In the second place, this type of reproduction represents a form of total domination over the reproduced individual on the part of the one reproducing it…
Cloning for therapeutic use does not attenuate its moral gravity, because in order that such cells may be removed the embryo must first be created and then destroyed. 236, Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church
Gender Election
Everyone, man and woman, should acknowledge and accept his sexual identity. Physical, moral and spiritual difference and complementarities are oriented towards the goods of marriage and the flourishing of family life. -224 Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church
Men and women with homosexual tendencies must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided. – 2358 Catechism of the Catholic Church
Population Growth; Birth Control; Family Planning
Judgment concerning the interval of time between births, and that regarding the number of children, belongs to the spouses alone. This is one of their inalienable rights, to be exercised before God… The intervention of public authorities must be made in a way that fully respects the freedom of the couple. All programmes of economic assistance aimed at financing campaigns of sterilization and contraception are to be morally condemned as affronts to the dignity of the person and the family.
The answer to questions connected with population growth must instead by sought in simultaneous respect both of sexual morals and of social ethics, promoting greater justice and authentic solidarity so that dignity is given to life in all circumstances.
All reproductive techniques — such as the donation of sperm or ova, surrogate motherhood, heterologous artificial fertilization — that make use of the uterus of another woman or of gametes of persons other than the married couple, injuring the right of the child to be born of one father and one mother who are father and mother are ethically unacceptable both from a biological and from a legal point of view. – 234-235, Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church
Alberta Party The party has provided no official statement regarding its policies or positions regarding:
– the sanctity, meaning or purpose of life
– abortion, euthanasia or alternatives thereto
– human engineering, including cloning or cell manipulation, or gender election surgery
Green Party of Alberta The party has provided no official statement regarding its policies or positions regarding:
– the sanctity, meaning or purpose of life
– abortion, euthanasia or alternatives thereto
– human engineering, including cloning or cell manipulation, or gender election surgery
Alberta Independence Party The party has provided no official statement regarding its policies or positions regarding:
– the sanctity, meaning or purpose of life
– abortion, euthanasia or alternatives thereto
– human engineering, including cloning or cell manipulation, or gender election surgery
Alberta Liberal Party The party has provided no official statement regarding its policies or positions regarding the sanctity, meaning or purpose of life.
Abortion, Euthanasia & Alternatives
The party advocates:
– making sure all women have full access to abortion
– making sure abortion procedures are more easily available in rural communities
– funding one cycle of in-vitro fertilisation treatment for women and families who have infertility issues and want to start a family
Socially-Assisted Death (SAD)
The party states that:
– all Public health facilities must provide this service to prevent undue suffering for SAD patients and respect their constitutional right to SAD
– individuals have conscience rights, facilities do not
The party advocates:
– requiring all health facilities, including Covenant Health facilities, to provide SAD services on site
Human Engineering
Transgender supports
The party states that it is committed to funding medical procedures for transgender Albertans, including elimination of gate-keeping and fully funding hormone treatments for trans women
Alberta NDP The Sanctity and Purpose of Life
The party has provided no official statement regarding its policies or positions regarding the sanctity, meaning or purpose of life.
Abortion, euthanasia and alternatives
– the party states that during its prior term in office it passed legislation to prevent harassment at abortion clinics
– the party advocates expanding access to reproductive health services for women living in smaller centres and rural Alberta.
Human Engineering
The party has provided no official statement regarding its policies or positions regarding human engineering, including cloning or cell manipulation, or gender election surgery.
Prolife Alberta Sanctity of Life
Abortion and alternatives
The party states that:
– its mandate is simple and straightforward: it is committed to promoting pro-life public policy in Alberta, through politics
– it believes that all human life deserves protection, especially innocent human life
To help both mothers and babies, the party advocates:
– adoption: boosting support for women with unexpected pregnancies, easing the challenges of putting a child up for adoption, by supporting women through all 9 months of pregnancy; and expanding the influence of Alberta Adoption Services to better assist prospective parents who want to adopt a child
– informed choice and consent: because a women’s right to information about medical procedures should not be disregarded, requiring that patients considering abortion be given full information on fetal development, including an ultrasound and all the possible psychological and physical health effects the procedure might have prior to the abortion being performed. They should also be given the full range of information about abortion alternatives and support available from various agencies and groups within the community. Most medical procedures require patients be fully-informed about the possible complications and side-effects before they consent; why is not the same for abortion?
– counseling: promoting counseling for women in unplanned pregnancies that will provide them with all the alternatives available to them including the possible physical, psychological and spiritual impacts an abortion could have
– requiring a parent’s (or guardians) right to give consent, or be informed, before their minor child undergoes an abortion procedure, just as is already the case when minors undergo medical treatments; or even body modifications such as piercing or tattooing
– parental notification for minors: just as is currently the practice with invasive medical-procedures or treatments performed on minors, requiring that the legal guardians of a person under the age of 16 receive notification when an abortion is scheduled for their child
– waiting period: because abortion is one of the most important decisions a woman can make, and is irrevocable when complete, requiring a twenty-four-hour waiting period would allow time to think things over and prevent rash decisions
– ultrasound awareness: in many other cases, prior to an operation, a doctor and medical team will review the operation with the patient, to inform the patient of how the procedure works, what will be done to the patient’s body, and frequently review any x-ray or MRI scans of relevant the area of your body, requiring full medical review prior to abortions
– increasing the emergency allowance for pregnant women escaping domestic abuse, in view of the enormous stress women faced with unplanned pregnancies can experience
– eliminating public tax-payer funding of abortions, which are currently funded with tax-payer dollars through the provincial health care system. The Canada Health Act does not require abortion costs to be insured. It states only that “medically necessary” procedures must be insured.
Human Engineering
The party has provided no official statement regarding its policies or positions regarding human engineering, including cloning or cell manipulation, or gender election surgery
United Conservatives The Sanctity and Purpose of Life
The party states that:
– a full life includes work that provides not only a living, but dignity. Therefore its first priority is to boost the economy and bring quality jobs back to Alberta
– however, “the good life” includes much more than material well-being
– while government can’t guarantee a good life, it has a central role in establishing many of the conditions for it like health, safety, education, and support for the vulnerable
Alternatives to Assisted Suicide
The party states that the 2016 legalization of assisted suicide underscores an urgent need to educate Albertans about palliative care, why it matters, and which services are available, and that now more than ever, the health care system needs to ensure access to high quality palliative care to alleviate suffering
The party advocate investing $20 million over four years, to:
– continue to shift from hospital to community-based home and hospice care
– establish and implement palliative care education, training, and standards for health professionals
– develop effective caregiver supports to support patients in their homes and community
– raise public awareness of palliative care and how and when to access it
The party has provided no official statement regarding its policies or positions regarding:
– its positions concerning abortion or alternatives thereto
– human engineering, including cloning or cell manipulation, or gender election surgery
Points to Ponder Points to Ponder: Life & Human Dignity
Consider discussing the following questions with your local candidates, elected officials, and the parties, and with your family, friends, neighbors, coworkers, and fellow parishioners:
– What limits should be placed on voluntary termination of human life, either prior to birth or at any time before death? What can or should be done at the federal level, and what should be left to the provinces, or to private, religious, or other non-profit organizations?
– What options can or should our society, including the church and other non-profit agencies in addition to government, offer to reluctant or unwilling mothers, as alternatives to abortion and to support unwanted children? What can or should be done at the local, or federal, or national or provincial level, or by private, religious, or other non-profit organizations?
– While the qualification criteria for Socially-Assisted Death are continually being expanded and the number of annual deaths increase, are corresponding increases being made in facilities to support those who choose not to participate? The charts below, taken from provincial and federal annual reports seem to indicate that although the number of deaths in Alberta are rising steadily, and depsite the promises of virtually all parties, exactly one (1) new palliative care bed has been made available within the province in the last four years.
