What Is Wrong with IVF?
During the recent presidential election, the issue of in vitro fertilization, or IVF, came up. Many Democrats and Republicans came out in support of it; often saying they knew a couple helped by it. But the fact that a person came into existence through IVF, and the couple is glad that they used it, does not mean that IVF is a good thing. A good end does not justify immoral means. I know a wonderful person who was conceived in rape. That doesn’t mean that rape is a good thing.
What is meant by the term in vitro fertilization? The word “vitro” comes from the Latin word meaning “glass.” Therefore, in vitro fertilization means “fertilized in glass.” Human beings who come into existence this way are more commonly called “test tube babies.” In the broad sense, however, the term “in vitro fertilization” means “obtaining a human conception in a manner other than through the sexual union of a man and a woman.”
What is wrong with IVF, and why should we oppose it? In vitro fertilization is wrong because the unborn child has rights: the right to be conceived in an act of sexual love by his parents. He has the right to be protected from coming into existence in a laboratory, where he might be placed in his mother’s womb, or a stranger’s womb, discarded, used for research, or frozen for future use.
Both contraception and abortion have fostered the belief that we have the “right to do what we want with our own bodies.” We do not. We are stewards of our bodies, not owners. The unborn child is not a “product of conception,” a manufactured “thing,” but a human being. Donum Vitae, the 1987 Instruction on Respect for Human Life, warns: “the abortion mentality… leads, whether one wants it to or not, to man’s dominion over the life and death of his fellow human beings and can lead to a system of radical eugenics.” (emphasis added)
The Instruction continues: “Recourse to the conscience of each individual and to the self-regulation of researchers cannot be sufficient for ensuring respect for personal rights and public order. If the legislator responsible for common good were not watchful, he could be deprived of his prerogatives by researchers claiming to govern humanity in the name of biological discoveries and the alleged ‘improvement’ processes which they would draw from these discoveries. ‘Eugenism’ and forms of discrimination between human beings could come to be legitimized: this would constitute an act of violence and a serious offense to the equality, dignity and fundamental rights of the human person…”
Donum Vitae urges us to protect the rights of the child: “The child has the right to be conceived, carried in the womb, brought into the world and brought up within marriage: it is through the secure and recognized relationship to his own parents that the child can discover his own identity and achieve his own proper human development… The child is not an object to which one has a right, nor can he be considered as an object of ownership: rather a child is a gift, ‘the supreme gift’ and most gratuitous gift of marriage, and is a living testimony of the mutual giving of his parents… he has a right to be respected as a person from the moment of his conception… It is part of the duty of the public authority to ensure that the civil law is regulated according to the fundamental norms of the moral law in matters concerning human rights, human life, and the institution of the family...”
Donum Vitae closes by saying “All men of good will must commit themselves… to ensuring the reform of morally unacceptable civil laws and the correction of illicit practices…” It exhorts “theologians” and “moralists” to “make it possible to understand ever more clearly the reasons for and the validity of this teaching. By defending man against the excesses of his own power, the Church of God reminds him of the reasons for his true nobility; only in this way can the possibility of living and loving with that dignity and liberty which derive from respect for the truth be ensured for the men and women of tomorrow.”
Unfortunately, “theologians” and “moralists” have not effectively communicated the truth about the immorality and consequences of IVF. It’s up to us, the laity, to speak up, and act!
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