Dignity, marriage and embryo adoption: a look at Dignitas Personae

The Catholic Church's 2008 Dignitas Personae discusses the moral implications of respecting the dignity of all human beings, regardless of the stage of development. In that text, the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith argues that respect for this dignity is incompatible with the conception of embryos outside marriage as well as assisted reproduction treatments and certain kinds of human embryonic research. Not only that, but the Congregation also rejects efforts at embryo adoption. As a matter of secular moral philosophy, this view of dignity is disputable and this article shows how an alternate view of dignity--one that depends on interests as against status--serves as a better foundation for decisions about ways in which to help people have children. This view of dignity is entirely compatible with a wide array of assisted reproduction treatments and research and is compatible with the conception of embryos for single parents or opposite-sex couples looking to have children. Using its notion of human dignity, the Congregation makes a case against embryo adoption, but that case is unconvincing given the permissible exercise of individual conscience and the presumptive importance of rescuing human lives where they can be rescued.