March 27, 2023
Catholic Medical Association Applauds USCCB Doctrinal Note on the Moral Limits to Technological Manipulation of the Human Body
Philadelphia, PA- March 27, 2023- Catholic Medical Association applauds the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) for its “Doctrinal Note on the Moral Limits to Technological Manipulation of the Human Body.”
“We commend the USCCB for its prudent effort in establishing important moral criteria and echo the need for ethical discernment as technology continues to advance,” said Craig Treptow, M.D., CMA President.
“Furthermore, CMA and its more than 2500 expert members maintain that biological identity is of paramount basis for treating patients,” added Dr. Treptow.
In its doctrinal note, USSB wrote in part that “careful moral discernment is needed to determine which possibilities should be realized and which should not, in order to promote the good of the human person,” stressing the concerning “range of technological interventions advocated by many in our society as treatments for what is termed “gender dysphoria” or “gender incongruence.”
“The USCCB reinforces the Church’s teaching that ‘the human person, body and soul, man or woman has a fundamental order and finality whose integrity must be respected’ and surgical or chemical interventions to feminize or masculinize the body ‘do not respect the fundamental order of the human person,’” said Michelle Stanford, M.D., Vice President of CMA and pediatrician.
Dr. Michelle Cretella, CMA member and former executive director of the American College of Pediatricians endorsed the doctrinal note publicly, saying it “is in line with both the best science and the ancient medical ethics principle of ‘first do no harm.’”
Dr. Cretella stressed that these types of technological manipulations
“disrupt normal healthy processes and physically destroy normal function of healthy body systems.”
“While we welcome technology and all of the good it can do for science and medicine, we must maintain moral integrity and ensure we are using it in line with our conscience,” said Dr. Treptow.
