In Vitro Fertilization IVF and Catholic Teaching

With the advent of the octuplets in Bellflower, California, just a few miles away from I live I am confronted with the need to remind people again about the immorality of In Vitro Fertilization IVF. Almost thirty years ago the birth of the first ‘test-tube baby’ to survive to full term was news internationally. The delivery of Louise Brown on 25 July, 1978 in Oldham, England as a result of IVF made medical history. And yet the Vatican raised its voice to warn that the event would have “grave consequences for humanity”. Now, thirty years afterwards, it is time to acknowledge that once again history has proven the Church right. The Catholic Church is not against reproductive technologies that respect the dignity of the human person. But it is against IVF precisely because it fails to respect the dignity of humans and also violates the sacredness of the sexual act and marriage itself. It is important to say at the outset that I recognize the ignorance that exists on this subject even among Catholics. It is also important to mention that any human being conceived through IVF is certainly a child of God and must be loved, respected, and protected. What are some of the problems with IVF then?

First of all, as we know babies engendered through IVF are treated as products rather than human beings. They are "produced" in the laboratory in a petri dish where the egg is fertilized with the sperm of the husband, most of the time with the sperm of a donor. In the case of the woman on California who has given birth to 14 children all of them conceived through IVF without being married we can see clearly many of the problems of IVF. Now women do not have to be married to conceive children, they can simply manufacture their own in the lab. In many case the characteristics of the donor are studied to select certain qualities that hopefully will be inherited by the offspring. There is a utilitarian mentality behind this that gives us the idea that we can create perhaps a better race or a better son or daughter with these specified traits. Children created through IVF are subject to Quality Control procedures and like any other "product" they are discarded (killed) when they do not meet the quality criteria. We must remember that all children regardless of how they were conceived are created in the image of God and they have to be loved.

Second, children conceived in IVF are not conceived from the conjugal embrace, they are not conceived out of an act of love, in fact the conjugal has been substituted by IVF. This is not in accordance with the dignity of human persons who must be engendered within an act of love and not simply lab manipulation. IVF does not help the conjugal act, it simply replaces it.

Third, to collect the sperm, most of the time the donor does it through masturbation, which is another immoral act.

Fourth, when sperm from a donor is used, this means, that the real father of the children is someone outside the marriage. This can create confusion in the child later, and in some cases even unplanned legal repercussions. In most cases the donor will remain unknown which can create problems in trying to trace congenital problems or illnesses that can affect that particular line of the family.

Fifth, when using IVF several embryos are created. Some of them will be implanted in the woman, and the rest will be discarded (another word for killed) or frozen. If they are killed this is a crime done in the name of fertility. If they are frozen, this is the most inhuman form of imprisonment of an innocent human person. Totally contrary to God's will.

Sixth, many of the unused embryos can also be "used" today for experimentation or as sources for embryonic stem cells. This implies the killing of the embryo, the taking of a human life in the name of science.

Seventh, at implantation several embryos are used, since it is likely that not all of them will survive after implantation. This is terrible since many of these embryos that do not succeed in the process of implantation will die inevitably due to the caprices of his/her parents. If all of them happen to implant or many of them succeed in implanting (like the case in Bellflower) then the woman is given the alternative to perform another procedure called selective reduction which basically is a selective abortion. How can we justify IVF at all? In Canada there was an interesting case, one woman gave birth to five children engendered by IVF, more than what she ever wanted. She had wanted only one, so she sued her doctor for "wrongful life," demanding that he pay for the cost of raising the four children she did not want.

Eighth, there is also the moral consideration of money. IVF can be quite expensive, especially if the procedure fails and has to be repeated.

Ninth, babies conceived through IVF have a MUCH higher chance of having physical and mental problems than children conceived naturally.

Tenth, every child has the right to be conceived within a marriage and to have a mother and a father, with IVF you open the door to all kinds of awkward possibilities, including not only single moms having children, but even lesbian couples now having and raising "their" own children. That would be another subject, but as we can see the twisted possibilities are simply on the rise.

This list is not exhaustive, so feel free to add more!

The Paradox of life

I found it very interesting that the "woman" (so far she has chosen not to reveal her name) who recently gave birth to octuplets already had six children who were living with her and her parents. Now this young woman, 33 years of age, after being a single mom with six children chose to have another procedure through In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) to bring into the world more children. Several embryos that were produced through IVF were selected and implanted in the woman's womb, and then in the 12th week of her pregnancy she "was counseled about the risks of the multiple pregnancy" and offered the option of selective reduction (another term for ABORTION). The woman wisely (perhaps for the first time) refused to have any of her babies killed and she continued with the pregnancy. Finally after expecting 7 babies, eight actually came out.

First, let me say something about this woman. It is obvious that this woman has a very serious mental or affective problem. How is it possible that a woman already with six children, not married, raising kids on her own with the assistance of her parents, still wishes to have more kids? Is that responsible parenthood? Her mother has said in the interviews that her daughter has been "obsessed" with the desire to have children since she was a teenager and has brought into existence all her children through IVF. So it is obvious that there is something wrong with her. Furthermore the woman and the clinic chose multiple implantations of embryos conceived through IVF. Once again, we have a troubled woman making a couple of very poor decisions: the first one was to choose IVF as a way to conceive children which is an immoral means (read the next posting on IVF), and second was to choose to have multiple implantations. The only smart decision this woman made so far was not to recur to selective abortion procedures to eliminate some of her children. So there is great joy for the conception and birth of the children, but great sadness for the means and the lack of total responsibility on the part of the parents (and that includes the woman as well as the sperm donor).

The paradox of life here is that in a culture that idolizes free choice and even death, and while many women choose to have abortions this woman chooses life at least during her pregnancy. I said during her pregnancy, because the truth of the matter is that usually when a person uses IVF some of the embryos that are produced are not implanted and are either discarded (aborted) or frozen. Even some of the implanted ones usually die naturally. So perhaps this woman even in her desire to have more children has perhaps eliminated consciously or unconsciously some of her own children. Many people that recur to IVF do not even realize this. This life is full of irony, but this happens when we do not respect the life of ALL human beings, when we value more our own choices than the dignity of other people, including the life of the embryo in all his/her stages.

Second, I would like to say something about the so called fertility doctors. The first question is if the doctors in fact tried to dissuade this woman from further impregnation after knowing that she already had six children and she was not married. Or was she simply one of her clients from whom they were used to get money to support their own business? It is true that the doctors are not in the business of telling people how many kids they are supposed to have, but certainly you do not need to be a rocket scientist to see that there was something wrong with their patient either mentally or emotionally or both. In those cases you refer your patient to a competent physician or psychologist to address her issues first. Furthermore it is not stipulated that IVF is a health treatment that MUST be administered for the health of the patient. Even more irresponsible is the fact that the doctors chose to implant at least 8 embryos, perhaps even more in the woman, knowing that she would probably would not opt for selective abortions, and therefore putting this woman in danger of death, for such a pregnancy was not only a risk to the babies (who have a certain chance to implant), but also to the mother. What is wrong with these doctors? Are they simply in the business of making money or are they concerned in the least for the well being of their patients (the mother and the babies)? Of course the answer is a clear and resounding NO!

We live in such a crazy society, and this is what happens when people do not hear God's Word speaking to them, we continue to do as we wish, we continue to harden our hearts, we continue to sin and we continue to destroy each other. May God have mercy on us!