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4.4. Duties of the Family and the State Toward the Unborn Child
43. The family is the primary institution for the protection
of children's rights. For this reason, the child's interest requires its
conception to take place in marriage and through the specifically human act of
conjugal union. "The gift of human life must be actualized in marriage
through the specific and exclusive acts of husband and wife, in accordance with
the laws inscribed in their persons and in their union".41
44. The bond between the mother and the conceived child,
and the irreplaceable function of the father make it necessary for the
unborn child to be welcomed into a family which assures, as far as possible and
in accordance with natural law, the presence of its mother and its father. The
father and the mother, as a couple, with the characteristics proper to them,
procreate and raise the child. The child thus has the right to be welcomed,
loved and recognized in a family. In this sense, the Convention on the
Rights of the Child represents a very significant step forward which must
be applied.
45. The unborn child has a right to be identified by its
parents' name, to its heritage, and thus entitled to protection of its
identity.42
46. The unborn child has a right to a standard of life
sufficient for its full psycho-physical, spiritual, moral and social
development, even in the event that its parents' marriage bond is broken.43
47. Parents have the primary responsibility of raising and
educating their children in order to ensure their integral development and an
adequate level of social, spiritual, moral, physical and mental well being in
order to achieve this. For this purpose, both the laws and the services of the
State are called on to cooperate in giving the family adequate support.44
48. In conformity with the principle of subsidiarity, only
when the family is not in a position to protect the interests of the unborn
child to a sufficient degree shall the State have the duty to provide special
measures for its protection, in particular: assistance to the mother before and
after delivery, the cura ventris, prenatal adoption and guardianship. Similarly,
the State can only intervene in family life when the dignity of the child and
its fundamental rights are seriously endangered, taking solely into
consideration "the child's higher interest", without any form of
discrimination.45
49. By reason of their particular condition and the abuses to
which they are exposed, girls and young women require special
provisions for their protection.
50. Like all handicapped persons, handicapped children are
all the more entitled to the protection and assistance required by their
condition. Therefore, the State should help the family to accept the
handicapped, favor their integration into society, and to let them benefit from
the special provisions for their condition so that they can fully enjoy all
their fundamental rights.46
51. The task of deepening the meaning of the right to
adoption is very topical, while always keeping in mind that "the best
interests of the child shall be the paramount consideration",47
without mixing this with other kinds of consideration, as noble as they may
seem. In the light of this higher interest, the categorical rejection must be
confirmed of the alleged right to adoption by "de facto unions", and
especially by same sex unions. In such cases, the child's integral formation
would be seriously jeopardized.
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