In his address to the November, 1971 Meeting of the National Federation of Catholic Physicians\u27 Guilds in New Orleans Dr. Brennan defended the acceptance of the revised code of medical ethics. His address is reprinted here

Brennan, John J.

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The Linacre QuarterlyVolume 39 | Number 1 Article 62-1-1972Quicksands of CompromiseJohn J. BrennanFollow this and additional works at: http://epublications.marquette.edu/lnqPart of the Ethics and Political Philosophy Commons, and the Medicine and Health SciencesCommonsRecommended CitationBrennan, John J. (1972) "Quicksands of Compromise," The Linacre Quarterly: Vol. 39: No. 1, Article 6.Available at: http://epublications.marquette.edu/lnq/vol39/iss1/6Quicksands of Compromise by John J. Brennan, M.D. I" his uddre.fS f(} 'he November, 1971 mt't'ling of Ih(' Ntlli(mol Federation 0/ CUlI/u/ie Phy.\'idoll.s' Guilds in New Or-froll,\' Dr. Brel/1ulII de/cllded the accept· (mel' of liJt' fl'l/ is('(/ ('ode of medical (',hi('s. J-/il' oddrt'.\',f iJ rt'Prillted here. Dr. Brennoll is j" the privote practice of obsletrks ami IO'II('('O/ogy in Mil· "'uube amI i.'i Q.ui.f fall' clinicaf profes-sor 0/ nh.~u!trit"s olld gynecoloxy 01 Ihe Medictl/ School of Wisconsin. Dr. Brell-nan i.r 01:'10 UI/ acae/emi<' editor for the UlloaC'. Fcbrullry. 1972 To many doctors technology has now re plnced God as the uhimatc authority. "Whotl is ex pedient" has become more important than "what is right." "There arc no nbso lutes" and " If it can be do ne. it shou ld be done." This is what we hear. The Na tiona l Federation of Catholic Physicinns' Gui lds is probably the strongellt and best organilcd group of scientific:llI), oriented ind ividuals who opposc this philosophy. Last weck by a vote of 232 to 7 the American Bishops acceptcd a revised code of med ic,,1 ethics. J ohn Cardinal Cody said. "As tcnche rs of the people and as protectors of li fe it is high time we mnke these norms ob ligatory." I say the same today. The new code docs not usc the te rm "Natural L'IW." We prefer to call Ihese "Basic Principles." Certainly it is a basic princi ple Ihat good must be done and evil avoided . And that the good never justifies the means. We can never do evil Ihat good may eventually resuh . Vio-lence musl be rejected as a means of solving socia l problems. Another basic principle is th.1t innocent human life must never be used to solve social prot>. lems. Just as a gun has a good purpose in the hands of a hunter. so too have surgical instruments in the hands of the doctor. The con tem pt that a hunter feels when he learns that his com panion has used his gun 10 destroy human life in IJ solving a social problem is sha red by liS when we learn of a doctor who uses his instruments to destroy a developing hu-man life. It is fo r the defense of innocent hu-man life that our group is now uni fied . organized. and committed as we havc never been before in o ur hi story. It was one hundred and fifty years ago that Dr. Christophe I-Iuffland said. "Once doctors take into their consid-era tion who shall li ve and who shall die. the consequences will be tremendous a nd d octors will have become the most dangerous men in the sta te." That time has now come. In medical mora ls there a re now three big grou ps. The two extremes a re strong. T hey are represented at one end of the spectrum by ou r institutional church and at the other end by secula r humanism. All th ose who stand between the two have their feel on the quicksand of compromise. The promote rs of "fornicat ion fo r fun" or abortion as a method of fam ily planning have shown their strength . They include the Zero Population Growth Group. Pla nned Parenthood. several large foundat io ns. elected offi-cial s. and presidential adviso rs. The lines are drawn for conflict between the instituti onal church and secular human-ism - betwee n those who think babies are a blessing and th ose who think babies are a burden. There arc ma ny here today who feel a little lonely because they take a sta nd different from secular humanism. but still a re not in total agreemen t with o ur church. Some would not perform abortions, but would not condemn the abortionist. Some wou ld not su rgica lly steri li ze those who have permanent rea-sons 10 avoid childbirth, but would 14 medica ll y sterilize women mo nth by month with contr<lceptive pills. Some would not personally do an y of these. but wou ld refer to a doctor who docs. Each has his own medical moral code whi ch represents a compromise. Each li ves with his own lonely conscience. We could never destroy a born or an unborn baby - in a mother's room or in her womb. Nor could we acce pt ster-iliz.ation. If a woman comes and says. " I cannot cont rol my tongue, d octor. Please cut it out." I wo uld say. "No. A doctor could neve r so mutilate you. You must learn to cont ro l your lO ngue." Or a man says. "I stea l. Please cut off my hands." We would suy. "No. even at your own request we cannot cut off your hands. Yo u must lise your intellect a nd free will to learn to contro l your hands." A doctor is a bove all a teacher. A barnyard a nimal has onl y instinct. Its reproduct ive org • .IOs canno t be con-troll ed. But a human being walks. talks. and reproduces. It is our role to teach him proper control of hi s faculti es -not to destroy them. It was twe nt y years ago that the Holy Fa ther said. " it is the role of the doctor and not that of the pricst" to teach na-ture's method. Before we talk of con-sc ience. let each of us here toda y assess to what extent we as doctors ha ve failed to fulfill our role in informing the con-sc ience of the p.ttients we teac h. Let each man who takeS"l positio n of compromise compare himse lf in the eyes of God with Docto r J ohn Billings of Australia. J ohn Billings went to Central America last fall and lectured every day for a month . He teaches the basic physi-ology of the menstrual cycle to unedu-cated . impoverished women, He uses no calendar and no thermometer. He teaches the women to write numbers in a row downwa rd with day one a t the top of a wa ll in her hut. He gives her Linacrc Quarterly red. green, and while stamps. The white siamps have a picture of a baby on them. Day one is the first day of a cycle. A red stamp is placed on t he wall. So too on days 2.3.4. and 5. After that days are completely dry. A green stamp is placed on the wall. Green days are com· pletcly infertile. As soon as mucus ap· pears. the husband sees the picture of a baby on the wall. The mucus becomes profuse: o n the third and fourt h days. The pictures of the baby are placed next to each number until the fourth day af· ter the mosl abundant mucus. On · the last ten days of each month the stamps arc always gree n. He estimates that o nl y 45% of women ,Ire awa re of mucus before he has talked 10 them 85% after he has talked to them. Such an inexpensive, safe, a nd simple. do it yourself. in the home pro. gram that rcqUires these basic elements love. cooperation. dis· cipline. se lf-control. and communication between husband and wife. In one TV program he reached an cstimatcd audience of 350.000 women. I truly think th.1I the on ly groups of peoph: who have intercourse at the fer. lile lime of the month ilfC those who seck pregnanc)'. those who are unin· February. 1972 formed, and those who are uninterested. When we consider all the foam failures, condom failures. and diaphragm fail· ures, we rea li ze that we have the right program. but that we have not sue· cceded in our leaching program. Rather than teaching the negative a pproach that cun traception is sinful. Dr. J ohn Bill ings has emphasized the pos itive program - that cont raception is unnec· essary. AS:I doctor and teacher. while I am concerned about the sinfu lness of contraception. I am mo re disturbed that so ma ny people feel that. despite its shortcomings, it is necessary. New and better contrace ptives wi ll comc and go, but one hundred yca rs from now - one thousand years from now our natural program will sti ll be simple and safe. Our mission is 10 bring the knowledge that we now ha ve to the millions who need it. The Human Life Foundation is the first step forward . Our universal church needs a central educational and research program in Rome to fight all that is evil and promote ,.11 that is good. Ours is an era when society has made it possible for human life to survive in outer spacc. Those of us here today must dedicate ourselves to making it safe r for human life to survive in inner space. 15 

Quicksands of Compromise

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Quicksands of Compromise

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