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.