Is IVF morally permissible?

Questions of Faith

It can be heart-wrenching when a couple experiences fertility problems that make bearing children through natural conception impossible. The inability to have children can cause severe emotional stress, and make the world seem like an unfair place. After a long period of anguish and discernment, many couples eventually find closure in their circumstances and accept that having biological children of their own just isn’t possible.

Other couples, however, choose the path of in vitro fertilisation (IVF) – a process of fertilisation where an egg is combined with sperm outside the body, which is then implanted in the same or another woman’s uterus, with the intention of establishing a successful pregnancy.

Over the last few decades, IVF has become a more and more popular response to news of infertility. While it’s true that a successful implantation can cause great excitement and joy for potential parents, this doesn’t mean that the practice doesn’t come without moral consequence.

Technologies

The Catholic Church opposes all kinds of assisted reproductive technologies, including IVF, primarily for two reasons. Firstly, Catholics believe that human dignity is best upheld in a sexual union of two people who conceive a child naturally. Some Church commentators suggest that such technologies can replace the love between a husband and wife.

“The act which brings the child into existence is no longer an act by which two persons give themselves to one another, but one that entrusts the life and identity of the embryo into the power of doctors and biologists and establishes the domination of technology over the origin and destiny of the human person. Such a relationship of domination is in itself contrary to the dignity and equality that must be common to parents and children.” (Donum Vitae)

The second reason why the Church opposes IVF is because life begins at conception, so acts that infringe upon the dignity of this life are illicit. For the IVF process to be effective, several human embryos are created, and a majority of those are destroyed.

Embryos should be treated as individual persons with souls, and IVF undermines this. Although the Church condemns this process, it’s important to point out that children conceived in this manner are created in the image of, and loved by God.

For Catholics, this can be a difficult teaching to wrestle with, and the Church is acutely aware that accepting this reality is a heavy cross to carry. Of course, ruling out the possibility of a natural conception doesn’t mean that couples can’t share in the blessings of parenthood. The Church encourages those in such circumstances to adopt children, offering them a chance to be part of a family who love and care for them.

When it comes to addressing this problem in a personal capacity, it’s important to not only read what the Church teaches, but to also have conversations with your partner, trusted family and friends, clergy, medical professionals and perhaps even counsellors. This is a weighty ordeal to face, and should not be journeyed on alone.