Dear Parishioners,
Decades ago when I was a college seminarian, I had to present a research paper on the topic of In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) for my ethics class. What was frequently referred to at the time as "test tube babies," IVF technology was being proposed as a means of fertilization for those couples who were unable to conceive a child by natural means. With the desired end-result of having a baby, isn't this a good option for such couples? The moral answer may surprise many people.
When the male sperm and female ovum join together scientifically we have a new human being. Life begins at conception regardless of those who try to deny this fact. It is also our belief as Catholics that God infuses an immortal soul into the newly conceived person, hence destining him or her to live eternally. We are created to live forever.
In the case of IVF, multiple eggs are typically fertilized hoping that one of these will implant in the woman's uterus and eventually develop into a child. However, if all the eggs are fertilized in the lab, we then have multiple human persons being formed with an almost certain probability that not every one of them will be brought to term. Thus, innocent human lives are created, then eventually destroyed.
The IVF procedure also overlooks the morality of the means by which the sperm are usually obtained in a solitary manner (masturbation) outside of the conjugal act. Moreover, the implications of taking human conception and separating it from the conjugal act opens the door to such things as surrogate parenting, the harvesting of organs from deliberately created babies, intentional sex and genetic selection and other possibilities.
I also should bring to people's attention that various types of contraceptive pills and other means (e.g., the I.U.D.) have an abortifacient quality preventing a conceived embryo (a new person) from implanting in the womb of the mother. In essence, it is a microscopic abortion that takes place. If a human person is such at conception, then anything that destroys or deliberately prevents this baby from living has serious moral implications. This is true as well for the abortion pill, sometimes referred to as the "morning after pill."
You might witness as I do, sexual morality is something that has become relative and utterly subjective to many in society. However, I state clearly that just because something is technologically or scientifically possible, it is not necessarily morally correct. Science may remove genitals from a person and supply hormones, but does that make the person another gender in the eyes of God? I think not. Abortion may be termed health care or reproductive rights, yet does not a person once conceived have a God-given right to live? While a baby may arrive as a result of IVF, what about the lives of the other children conceived in the process? Don't they matter?
As Catholics, all of these topics are important morally and spiritually. Human beings are sacred to God as He became one of us in the Person of Jesus. Every person, born or preborn, has the potential to be with God for all eternity and should be treated with dignity and respect. From a human perspective, once we begin to behave and act like we are gods, like we have control over life, sexual identity, who can marry whom, etc., we are opening ourselves to disastrous consequences for humanity.
Fr. Ed Namiotka
Pastor
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