In vitro fertilization - is it wrong?

Q. My wife and I have been trying to have a baby for many years and it is just not happening. Our doctor suggests trying in vitro fertilization but my wife is uneasy about it. We really want to have children. What does the Church say about this?

A. First, let me say that your wife being uneasy about the idea is a good thing. Infertility is an unfortunate cross that some couples have to bear. It is an understandable and holy thing that you and your wife want to have children as the fruits of your love and marriage. The Church teaches that while children are a great good that comes from a loving marriage, that no one has the right to a child. Even for the most loving of couples, there is no right to a child.

Science and technology have made enormous contributions to our lives and society. But the fact that a certain procedure is technologically possible, does not make it moral or ethically right.

In 1987 the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith issued a document known as Donum Vitae ("The Gift of Life"), which addressed the morality of many modern fertility procedures. The document did not judge the use of technology to overcome infertility as wrong in itself. It concluded that some methods are moral, while others—because they do violence to the dignity of the human person and the institution of marriage—are immoral. In vitro fertilization is one that the Church has stated is clearly and unequivocally immoral

"In vitro" literally means "in glass." In vitro fertilization is a process whereby human life is generated in a laboratory environment like a glass petri dish. Only 10 to 20% of the human embryos produced by in vitro fertilization ever result in a normal pregnancy. The Centers for Disease Control estimated that in 1998, 28,000 babies were born through in vitro fertilization in the United States. This means that around a quarter million human embryos with human souls were lost are discarded in that one year alone.

It is a consistent Church teaching and a biological scientific fact that human life begins at conception. Human life must be respected and protected absolutely from the moment of conception. From the first moment of his existence, a human being must be recognized as having the rights of a person. We pray this many Sundays during the Prayers of the Faithful - that human life be respected from conception to natural death.

In vitro fertilization turns children into commodities. When a couple undergoes in vitro fertilization, they are saying, "We want a child no matter what," and the child becomes an object. This evolves into a selective mentality, whereby couples choose the kind of child they want.

Above all, a child is a gift. Cooperating with God's plan for human procreation ensures that all children are accepted as gifts.

You may want to read the article on this subject on the U.S. Council of Catholic Bishops web site at the link below
http://www.usccb.org/issues-and-action/human-life-and-dignity/reproductive-technology/begotten-not-made-a-catholic-view-of-reproductive-technology.cfm

You and all couples who struggle with infertility are in the prayers of the Church.