The In Vitro Fertilization Problem
The topic of in vitro fertilization (IVF) can be challenging to discuss. On an issue laden with difficulties, with serious impact on the lives of people in our communities, it is all the more important to be knowledgeable. Too often people give their support for IVF (and other assisted reproductive technologies) without fully considering all that is involved, including, for example, moral, legal, and financial implications.
Couples may struggle with the heartache of infertility. Technologies such as IVF seemingly provide an answer to their pain. However, these procedures are problematic for all involved. Although IVF creates new life, it also unjustly destroys life as well. Millions of babies have been born as a result of IVF. However, tens of millions more embryos have been discarded, experimented upon, or frozen. These "excess" embryos have been denied their natural right to live and fully develop.
IVF is not an acceptable solution to infertility. As part of our loving duty to accompany those dealing with infertility, we can promote alternative means to address the problem. Click here to view the video (and letter) by Bishop Michael Burbidge of the Diocese of Arlington as he points out how "[t]he Church encourages and promotes all life-giving and restorative fertility treatments, approaches like NaProTechnology, that address and resolve underlying causes of infertility."
Some Public Policy Concerns
Support for IVF should not be policy in government funded programs. IVF is not a process that people should be forced to support through our tax dollars or our insurance plans. No matter how well intended to help infertile couples, we cannot support technology that:
- Encourages eugenic practices and the grave error of viewing children as property under the absolute control of another.
- Removes conception from its intended place within the loving marital act and reduces it to a laboratory procedure. This harms the dignity of all involved.
- Allows new life to be brought about outside of a proper marriage setting, such as in non-standard unions, through surrogacy, or even to single people. This deprives children of their natural right to be born into a family of a married father and mother.
Catholic Church teaching takes very seriously the moral and ethical implications of the IVF process. For more information see:
A Catholic resource on IVF or a letter to the U.S. Senate on the IVF Protection Act from 2024.
Sincerely,
Loretta Fleming
Executive Director
Please speak with your pastor, to ensure that your parish - be it in a bulletin or a directory - does not have such ads.
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