What does the Catholic Church say about Assisted Reproductive Technology?
Being born and raised Catholic, I struggle with understanding what is morally right when it comes to infertility and “unnatural” methods of conceiving a child. My faith has always been very important to me and I have always tried to follow the teachings of the Catholic Church. If, and when I get married, I hope that I will not have to struggle with getting pregnant naturally. However, I’ve read that 1 in 6 couples experience difficulties no matter the age. I must admit I have no idea what it feels like to spend years trying to conceive, and I can only imagine how heartbreaking it must be to want so desperately to bring a child into this world. I can understand why couples turn to assisted reproductive technology (ART), but for me, as a Catholic Christian, I wonder: Is in vitro fertilization (IVF) the best option? What does the Church say about intrauterine insemination (IUI)? What is the morally right thing to do?
I am no expert on what the Church teaches on these issues and am continuing to learn about all of this as I get older. But I came across a document written in 1987 called Donum Vitae or “The Gift of Life” written by the Congregation for Doctrine of Faith. According to this document, human procreation requires collaboration with the fruitful love of God in the context of marriage. In other words, the gift of human life must be actualized in marriage in the context of an entirely natural sexual union between a married man and woman. So, I guess this means that ART is not a good thing because it does not result from a natural sexual union. In addition, the Church teaches that human life begins at the moment of fertilization and a human being must be respected as a person from the very first instant of his/her existence. Hmmm…so what happens when embryos are conceived in IVF and they are not used? The usual IVF process requires some of these embryos to be killed by injection of potassium chloride into the embryo's heart, a procedure called fetal reduction. Is this morally wrong? Isn’t this similar to having an abortion? Ahh…so many of these questions popped that I had to continue digging into this topic.
More from Donum Vitae:
“Human embryos obtained in vitro are human beings and subjects with rights: their dignity and right to life must be respected from the first moment of their existence. It is immoral to produce human embryos destined to be exploited as disposable "biological material"…
the researcher usurps the place of God; and, even though he may be unaware of this, he sets himself up as the master of the destiny of others inasmuch as he arbitrarily chooses whom he will allow to live and whom he will send to death and kills defenseless human beings.”
These are some strong statements, but I must say that in many ways I agree with them. Are we to interfere with what is supposed to occur naturally? On the flip side, is it fair that God doesn’t allow some couples to conceive when all they want to do is have children to love? Overall, I don’t really know where I stand just yet. There are so many questions that linger in my mind and it seems like such a tough moral issue that I’m sure has led to a lot of debate. So, what then would I do if I was in a situation in which I was married and my husband and I just couldn’t get pregnant? It’s hard to tell since this is a hypothetical situation for me, but my gut tells me that if for some reason I wasn’t able to conceive naturally, then the next best thing would be to consider adoption. There are so many babies born in this world without loving parents. Isn’t what’s most important giving your children (biological or not) the proper love and care they deserve? Is all that money that goes into IVF, IUI, or egg freezing really worth it when there are other children out there who need great parents? I mean why is it that couples really want children?
I don’t know if the moral question will ever be clear to me but I will continue to read and figure out what the Catholic Church says is the right thing to do because I do respect Church authority. For now, what seems right in my mind is that parents love, nurture, and care for a child (blood related or not) rather than work so hard to see miniature versions of themselves. In other words, adoption seems like the optimal choice for parents-to-be and also the right thing to do.