Vatican Declaration the Vatican's Declaration Term Paper

Human morality and law should therefore not be at odds with each other, but work together in order to promote the divine principle of life. According to the document, moral teaching enforces the internal human conscience, while government law enforces external behavior. These should then work together for the perpetuation of natural life.

Beyond the document, the Church has also issued declarations in terms of other issues relating to sexual conduct, conception and marriage. According to the church, and also mentioned briefly in the Abortion Declaration, sexual conduct should occur only within marriage, and with sufficient responsibility in order to prevent unwanted pregnancy. The Vatican is very strongly against abortion merely because the child is an "inconvenience" as a result of premarital or irresponsible sexual conduct. In this, the Church concedes that modern society is not in great favor of big families, as the case was in the past. The Church therefore recommends that sex within marriage be conducted in such a way that the chances of unwanted pregnancy be minimized.

The Church is also against most forms of birth control. The issue is addressed by Robin Toner of the New York Times. Birth control, according to this argument, is the prevention of birth. As such, it prevents potential life and should not be allowed.

It is interesting to note that the Church also frowns upon human interference in creating fertility. Surrogate mothers and test tube fertilization are for example two issues against which the Church has recently expressed itself. This is another area where, according to the Church, humanity has no right to interfere. Life is sacred, but its conception should be allowed to take place naturally.

According to the Church, taking the power to create life is a dangerous attempt to replace God. Doing so would also grant the giver of life the power to take it away, which has serious repercussions for the abortion issue as well as for society in general (Associated Press).This threat to the basic family structure is also an issue that the Church uses to condemn the use of all forms of birth control and same-sex marriage.

In the Abortion Declaration, as well as in all their declarations regarding humanity, society and the right to life, the Vatican bases all its utterances on fundamental Bible doctrine. Its attempt, during the 1970s, to maintain the illegal status of abortion, rests upon this adherence to established Church and Bible teachings.

In their declarations and their attempts to sway legal issues to adhere to Bible doctrine, perhaps the Vatican is overlooking the fact that, whether for better or worse, society and its values are inevitably changing. With the advances of medical technology and the perpetuation of information, religious doctrine has become of increasingly diminished importance in the human mind. It has therefore become necessary to base arguments on viewpoints other than only religious. The Vatican attempts to do this with its references to medical and legal science.

Sources

Associated Press. "Vatican Condemns Contraception, Abortion, Same-Sex Marriage." Beliefnet, 2006. http://www.beliefnet.com/story/192/story_19263_1.html

Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. "Declaration on Procured Abortion." 18 Nov. 1974. http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_19741118_declaration-abortion_en.html

Instruction on Respect for Human Life in its Origin and on the Dignity of Procreation Replies to Certain Questions of the Day. http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_19870222_respect-for-human-life_en.html

Toner, Robin. "The Vatican's Doctrine: Plitical Impact; Contrast to Abortion Issue is Discerned." New York Time, March 12, 1987. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?sec=health&res=9B0DEEDC173FF931A25750C0A961948260.....