Description

Reproductive Health

Catholic Ethics and Praxis in India

Alex Vadakuimitltoala

Editor

You and I know how many seeds there are in an apple. Only God knows how many apples there are in a seed. When we standbefore life, any type of life, we stand before mystery. We approach all life with a sense of awe and wonder. Much more so is this in the case of human life.

Human Reproduction is of significance precisely because of the value we place on human life. If human life were valueless, procreation would be devoid of dignity.

An estimated 210 million women have life-threatening complications of pregnancy annually, and half a million women die every year in pregnancy and childbirth due to largely preventable causes. Four million newborn infants die each year, and four million are stillborn; the vast majority of these deaths directly reflect women’s poor health during pregnancy or inadequate care during and immediately after childbirth, or both.

Modern medicine has immense power to heal people of disease, to increase our life span and even to improve the human race. How to use this power is then not just a matter of technique but of ethics.

Modern methods of artificial reproduction of human beings are not just methods of overcoming infertility. They raise questions about the very concept and meaning of sexuality, marriage and the family.

This volume intends to throw light and to strengthen the commitment in the service of life and its wholeness. It is the fruit of a colloquium on “Reproductive Health: Catholic Ethics and Praxis in India” organized by the CBCI Health Commission, in collaboration with the Institute of Reproductive Health, Georgetown University, Washington DC. For those who are concerned about life, this offers a relevant reading.