On 14 June, the Swiss people will be invited to vote for or against an amendment in the Federal Constitution proposed by Parliament and “destined to pave the way for pre-implantation diagnosis”.
The Swiss bishops took their stand yesterday in an announcement entitled,“No to pre-implantation diagnosis and yes to human beings”. They pleaded to the people of Switzerland “to vote no”to“show that the human dignity of all human beings must be respected and safeguarded to the hilt”.
The bishops pointed out that “with PGD, a disease is not being treated. It is being prevented by removing the carrier of the disease”. Qualifying this method as “unjustifiable”, they stressed that it came down to “liberal eugenics”reminding people that, in fact, PGD “requires voluntary embryo production in order to make a selection”. Authorising PGD would therefore be tantamount to granting “the right to decide who deserves to live and who does not”.
The bishops believe that “maximum protection for a human embryo, which must be considered a person, is best ensured by the current Federal Constitution”, which stipulates that “only the number of human embryos for immediate implantation can be developed outside the female body”.
Other voices were heard on this topic. Bertrand Kiefer, doctor, Director of Editions Médecine et Hygiène, chief editor of the Revue médicale suisse and in favour of PGD, raised the following question: “If we remove all of the individuals affected by genetic risk factors, we do not know what the consequences will be in terms of human diversity. This diversity adds to the richness of our destiny. The role of medicine is not to standardise human beings but to make them free”.
Zenit 11/05/2015 – Le Temps (Denis Masmejan) 12/05/2015