Now available (for free): “A Student’s Guide to Bioethics” from Jérôme Lejeune Foundation

Back in January, Michael J. Miller reported for CWR:

The young people from all five continents who gather in Rio in July 2013 for World Youth Day will find in their backpacks a “bioethics survival kit”:  a special WYD edition of A Student’s Guide to Bioethics, produced by the Jérôme Lejeune Foundation at the request of the Pontifical Academy for Life and the Archdiocese of Rio de Janeiro (Brazil).  The manual, nicknamed BIOBOOK, will be available in French, Portuguese, English and Spanish editions.  In early spring two million copies will be printed in Chile for the registered pilgrims expected at the event. 

Originally entitled Manuel Bioéthique des jeunes, this educational resource was first published in France in 2006 by the Jérôme Lejeune Foundation in response to a qualifying examination in science that was marred by ideological bias.  The objective of A Student’s Guide to Bioethics is “to go beyond the cosmetic rhetoric and to focus again on the reality of the biological facts and their ethical implications”.  The French edition has been a great success:  more than 300,000 copies have been distributed free of charge to students, parents and schools that have requested it. 

The Student’s Guide is simply and clearly organized in eight chapters on the topics:  “The story of a little human being”, “Abortion”, “Prenatal diagnosis”, “Medically assisted procreation”, “Pre-implantation genetic diagnosis”, “Embryo research”, “Euthanasia”, and “Organ donation”.  A special dossier that was recently added to the updated edition deals with “gender theory”.  In each chapter the reader finds definitions, descriptions of medical procedures, an explanation of current French law on the topic, a Q&A section, ethical reflections and one or more personal testimonies.  The book is attractively formatted and illustrated with full-color photographs, charts and whimsical drawings. 

The booklet, A Student’s Guide to Bioethics, is now available as a free download (PDF format) from the Jérôme Lejeune Foundation website.


If you value the news and views Catholic World Report provides, please consider donating to support our efforts. Your contribution will help us continue to make CWR available to all readers worldwide for free, without a subscription. Thank you for your generosity!

Click here for more information on donating to CWR. Click here to sign up for our newsletter.


About Carl E. Olson 1244 Articles
Carl E. Olson is editor of Catholic World Report and Ignatius Insight. He is the author of Did Jesus Really Rise from the Dead?, Will Catholics Be "Left Behind"?, co-editor/contributor to Called To Be the Children of God, co-author of The Da Vinci Hoax (Ignatius), and author of the "Catholicism" and "Priest Prophet King" Study Guides for Bishop Robert Barron/Word on Fire. His recent books on Lent and Advent—Praying the Our Father in Lent (2021) and Prepare the Way of the Lord (2021)—are published by Catholic Truth Society. He is also a contributor to "Our Sunday Visitor" newspaper, "The Catholic Answer" magazine, "The Imaginative Conservative", "The Catholic Herald", "National Catholic Register", "Chronicles", and other publications. Follow him on Twitter @carleolson.