The recent Vatican document calling for moral restraints on birth technology has generated animated debate and controversy in the United States and abroad. This debate has been generally welcome in Rome, because it was one of the main objectives in issuing the "Instruction on Respect for Human Life in Its Origin." Many countries have not figured out how to legislate on and adjudicate controversial issues such as surrogate parenthood, in vitro fertilization, and other artificial means of creating and sustaining fetal life. The "Baby M" case and the confused response it drew from the American public, politicians and the press is the latest evidence of this. The Vatican hopes to give the technology-driven discussion a moral resonance. In this respect it seems to have succeeded.
