This week's article for the newspaper answers a follow-up from last edition's contraceptive explanation, extending the question to in vitro fertilization and other fertility treatments:
Q: If there are concerns among
Christians around the ethics of contraception, are there also similar issues
raised in connection with In Vitro Fertilization and other fertility measures
in light of Biblical ethics?
The inability to conceive or carry
children to term has been a source of great heartache from the beginning of
recorded history. Women from ancient
times like Sarah, Rachel, and Hannah were troubled by this problem and we have
their stories recorded in the Bible, along with the Lord’s intervention in
response to their prayers.
One of the consequences when sin
entered the world through our first parents was that our bodies and the world
around them were thrown into general disarray.
We see this in natural disasters and our struggle to keep up with the
assaults of the natural world. We also
see it in disease and dysfunction in our bodies – of which infertility is an
example.
Unlike Sarah, Rachel, and Hannah,
many do not conceive naturally in answer to their prayers, but today, we have
medical knowledge and treatments which could not have been imagined the ancient
times in which those women lived. While
these have the potential to be a great blessing for couples seeking children, they
also raise moral concerns for some Christians.
There are a number of interventions
which are not a subject of concern among Christians. These include: examination of reproductive health, medically
correcting hormonal irregularities, and surgically correcting anatomical
irregularities.
The Roman Catholic Church raises the
greatest number of concerns regarding responses to infertility. Among these are concerns regarding the
methods of obtaining samples for diagnosis, whether treatments interrupt the
couple’s marital intimacy, and whether third parties become involved in the act
of conception.
Other concerns are shared by both
Roman Catholics and other denominations of Christians. For example, there is significant debate
concerning the appropriateness of using genetic material from a third party in
the process of conceiving a child. For
some, this raises both moral concerns about whether such a treatment
constitutes adultery as well as social concerns about the impact on the family
by the lack of biological connection to one of the parents.
Likewise, surrogacy is a topic of
debate among some Christians, because even though the genetic material came
entirely from the married couple, a third party is carrying and birthing the
child, raising similar concerns to those involved with using donor genetic
material.
In Vitro Fertilization requires
probably the most complex examination among fertility measures. Some discourage
this method based on the assertion that it is an unnatural interference between
the married couple or involves a third party in conception, but the majority of
consideration revolves around other factors.
The most prominent of these are questions concerning proper respect for
human life.
Because In Vitro fertilization is
such a costly process, it is most practical to create numerous embryos at one
time and freeze them until they are needed.
In most cases, numerous embryos are implanted into the mother in hopes
that one or two will implant and grow to term.
However, when a large number of embryos survive, the mother is left to
face the high-risk scenario of carrying all of them to term or the decision to
abort several of them to reduce their number, which would be considered immoral
by a majority of Christian traditions.
It also leaves the question of what
to do with excess embryos that were created during the process. Many Christian traditions would consider most
of the available options (which include removing them from cold storage to die,
leaving them perpetually frozen, or making them the subjects of medical
research) as immoral treatments of a living person.
As a result, many Christians who
choose to use In Vitro fertilization choose to take several measures to ensure
proper respect for human life. These
include creating only as many embryos as can be used (even though this may
incur additional cost) and implanting only as many embryos as can be safely
carried. In the event a Christian couple
inadvertently finds themselves with embryos they are not able to use (which can
happen due to unforeseen circumstances, in spite of attempts to avoid doing
so), many are now choosing to offer those embryos for adoption so that they can
be given life by another couple who is willing and able to carry them to
term.
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