Dignitas personae and the Adoption of Frozen Embryos

The Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith’s Dignitas personae does­not­offer­a­definitive­rejection­of­the­practice­of­human­embryo­adoption­as­ intrinsically­evil,­but­neither­does­it­simply­leave­the­matter­an­“open­question.”­ The document does indeed oppose the practice, but its reasons for doing so are not­clearly­stated­and­seem­to­be­in­tension­with­its­own­affirmations­of­the­ personal dignity of embryos and the goodness of adoption. The Congregation’s opposition is therefore best read as a prudential judgment that embryo adoption cannot­be­justified­in­the­present­circumstances­due­to­the­potential­for­scan- dal and the cooperation with the fertility industry which it involves. National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly 10.2­(Summer­2010):­307–328.