By Br. Gregory-David Jones, O.S.B.

     With the increased use of the medical procedure in vitro fertilization, the majority of people have forgotten or neglected the ethical issues that many Christians raise in objection to its practice.  The ethical considerations involved with in vitro fertilization are more serious than the simple question of using extraordinary means to help couples bear children.  Many people believe that it is morally acceptable because it helps married couples have children who were unable to and that, in and of itself, outweighs any moral or ethical dilemmas involved with the procedure.  They believe that technology properly used is supposed to promote life and IVF (in vitro Fertilization) accomplishes this and brings happiness to the lives of thousands of people.  But the Roman Catholic Church has from the very beginning opposed this procedure and any other medical treatment or product which interferes with or takes the place of the natural conception of human beings.  Many Catholics and other Christians, believe that the Church’s teaching is out of line and out of date.  For someone to simply assume that IVF is morally and ethically permissible through Divine law is a terrible mistake without examining the specifics of the procedure and the Catholic Church’s teaching concerning human life.

     A basic understanding of the procedure is easy to grasp (this is only a brief description of how it is commonly practiced).  First, many ova are removed from a woman and mixed with semen in a test tube.  The reproductive components necessary for the conception do not necessarily come from the husband and wife intending to have children.  Often, one component comes from a “donor” and the other from one of the spouses.  After the ova are fertilized, the doctor examines them with a microscope so that he can find three to four of the healthiest looking ones for implantation in a woman’s uterus.  The remaining embryos are simply destroyed.  The doctor then implants one of the chosen embryos into patients uterus.  If the implantation is unsuccessful, one of the other embryos are used.  If one of the implantation attempts are successful, the remaining embryos are either frozen and stored in a medical facility (possibly for an indefinite period of time) or destroyed depending on the choice of the mother (in some jurisdictions, the choice is made by both spouses).  If all the attempts are unsuccessful, the entire procedure begins again if the couple so chooses.

     In order to get to the heart of the moral objections that the Catholic Church raises, an examination of its teaching on the dignity of human life has to be made.  According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, human life begins at conception.  Once conceived that life has equal dignity with all human beings, no matter what stage of development that life is in. The Catechism states, “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 - among which is the inviolable right of every innocent being to life” (no. 2270).  This means that human beings have an intrinsic value.  Therefore, a non-life sustaining medical procedure which exposes developing human life to the possibility of being destroyed or frozen for an indefinite period of time is morally objectionable.  The fertilized ova are not medical “byproducts”.  They are human beings with souls.  If one accepts the idea that abortion is the murder of innocent life, the willful destruction of human embryos is equally immoral no matter what the reason.