Includes bibliographical references (pages 361-365) and index.

Chapter 1 Church Teaching and Major Issues In Bioethics 21 -- 1 John Paul II's Encyclical Evangelium Vitae 22 -- 2 Vatican Instruction on Respect for Human Life in Its Origin and on the Dignity of Procreation (Donum Vitae) 35 -- 3 Declaration on Procured Abortion 40 -- 4 Declaration on Euthanasia 43 -- Chapter 2 Making True Moral Judgments and Good Moral Choices 49 -- 1 Meaning of a "Human Act"; Its Existential and Religious Significance; the Sources of Its Moral Character 50 -- 2 Kinds of Human Dignity; Human Freedom and God's Wise and Loving Plan for Human Existence 54 -- 3 Relationship Between the "Good" and Human Choices and Action; the First Principles of Natural Law 56 -- 4 Normative Truths of Natural Law 58 -- 5 Steps in Making True Moral Judgments 62 -- 6 "Fulfillment" or "Perfection" of Natural Law Through the Redemptive Work of Christ 63 -- Chapter 3 Generating Human Life: Marriage and the New Reproductive Technologies 67 -- 1 Part One: Fornication, Adultery, and the Generation of Human Life 68 -- 2 Part Two: Marriage and the Generation of Human Life 68 -- 3 Part Three: Generating Human Life Through New Reproductive Technologies 73 -- 4 Part Four: "Assisted" Insemination/Fertilization 88 -- 5 Part Five: "Rescuing" Frozen Embryos 95 -- Endnotes for Chapter Three 113 -- Chapter 4 Contraception and Respect for Human Life 127 -- 1 Pope John Paul II on the Roots of the Culture of Death and Contraception's Relationship to It 131 -- 2 Contraception vs. "Recourse to the Rhythm of the Cycle": Their Anthropological and Moral Differences, One Ultimately Entailing "Irreconcilable Concepts of the Human Person and of Human Sexuality" 132 -- 3 Contraception: An Anti-Life Act 141 -- 4 Contraception: Both Anti-Love and Anti-Life 144 -- 5 Sterilization 147 -- 6 Condoms and Prevention of HIV 150 -- Appendix Preventing Conception When in Danger of Rape or After Rape 154 -- Chapter 5 Abortion and Human Life 165 -- Introduction: Structure of This Chapter 165 -- 1 Resume and Clarification of Church Teaching 166 -- 2 Some Relevant Scientific Data 170 -- 3 It Is Reasonable to Believe That Most People Begin at Fertilization and Unreasonable to Deny This 172 -- 4 Special Moral Gravity of Abortion, a Woman's "Right" to Abortion, the Difference Between a "Right" and a "Liberty" 186 -- 5 Abortion as "Removal" vs. Abortion as "Killing" 192 -- 6 Management of Ectopic Pregnancies 199 -- Chapter 6 Experimentation on Human Subjects 213 -- 1 Introduction: The Cardinal Principle of Free and Informed Consent 213 -- 2 Proxy Consent: Its Meaning, Justification, and Limits 220 -- 3 Research on the Unborn, in Particular, Embryonic Stem-Cell Research 229 -- 4 Genetic Therapy 237 -- 5 Prenatal and Pre-Implantation Screening 241 -- 6 Genetic Counseling 246 -- 7 Human Genome Project 248 -- Chapter 7 Euthanasia, Assisted Suicide, and Care of the Dying 259 -- Introduction: The Contemporary Movement for Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide 259 -- 1 Clarifying the Terminology 261 -- 2 "Ethics of Euthanasia" 264 -- 3 Critique of the "Ethics of Euthanasia" 270 -- 4 "Ethics of Benemortasia" 275 -- 5 Caring for the Permanently Unconscious and Persons in the "Persistent Vegetative State" 285 -- 6 Advance Directives 302 -- Chapter 8 Defining Death and Organ Transplantaton 315 -- 1 State of the Question Up to 2000 318 -- 2 Pope John Paul II's Address of August 29, 2000, and Shewmon's Commentary Thereon 325 -- 3 Important Recent Developments in the Debate Over "Brain Death" 335 -- 4 Evaluative Conclusion to This Debate 351 -- 5 Significant Developments in the First Part of 2008 352 -- 6 Organ Transplants From the Living (Inter Vivos) 353.