Artificial insemination and IVF

[Lazerlike42]

I need some help from folks who understand this a little bit.

In the CDF’s 1987 instruction on procreation, it is said that forms of artificial insemination technology which take the place of the conjugal act are immoral, but those which simply aid it would not be. I need to know what sorts of artificial insemination technology would not replace the conjugal act.

Also, just to verify - IVF is immoral, correct?

 

[whatevergirl]

I’m not savvy in this area, but I was watching EWTN a few weeks ago, and Father Pakwa who hosts the show, explained that artifical insemination is immoral, because of the risk of killing innocent embryos that might not be wanted. If you want twins, and there are four embryos, I believe that those embryos are killed in the whole process, for example. That’s ultimately why it’s ‘immoral.’ I’m not familiar with any other types, though. Hope that sheds some light on it?

 

[1ke]

Lazerlike42:

I need to know what sorts of artificial insemination technology would not replace the conjugal act.

From this website here is an outline of acceptable procedures:

Interventions Compatible with Catholic Teaching

1. The use of Natural Family Planning to observe the wife’s naturally occurring signs of fertility and time intercourse to achieve pregnancy in the fertile periods.
2. General medical evaluations to determine possible biological causes of infertility in either the husband or the wife.
3. After normal intercourse, tests to assess sperm number and viability in “fertile type” mucus or in licitly-obtained seminal fluid. Some argue that if there is no evident cause of infertility in the wife, it can be assumed that the cause is in the husband and proceed accordingly, without the need for sperm testing.
4. Assessment of uterine and tubal structures by imaging techniques like ultrasound, MRI, etc.
5. Appropriate medical treatment of dysfunctions in normal ovulation.
6. Appropriate correction of medical obstacles in the fallopian tubes (usually surgical).

Interventions under Discussion (neither approved nor disapproved by the Church)

1. LTOT (Low Tubal Ovum Transfer): if blockages in the fallopian tubes cannot be corrected, an ovum is surgically transferred past the point of obstruction into the uterine cavity after normal intercourse during the fertile phase. Although probably licit, success rates have been low.
2. GIFT (Gamete Intra-Fallopian Transfer): licitly obtained sperm from intercourse, and an ovum, are transferred to the fallopian tube where fertilization can take place. Some theologians approve GIFT because fertilization will take place within the woman’s body, not in a test tube. However, others argue that since the sperm that may actually lead to fertilization is not deposited by the intercourse but by later technical interventions, GIFT is not acceptable.

Lazerlike42:

Also, just to verify - IVF is immoral, correct?

Yes. From the same website:

Interventions Incompatible with Catholic Teaching

1. Obtaining semen by masturbation, even if it will be used for attempted fertilization.
2. AI (Artificial Insemination): whether from the husband (AIH) or from another donor (AID), the semen used is obtained not from intercourse but by some other means (usually masturbation) and thus intercourse and conception are separated.
3. IVF (In Vitro Fertilization), ZIFT (Zygote Intra-Fallopian Transfer), ICSI (Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection), and variations: these all rely on using a donated ovum, a “surrogate” uterus, or in some other way separate the act of conception from the act of intercourse.

 

[luv_pis]

Almost all of the artificial insemination techniques will entail that some or all of the implanted embryos would not survive. That fact by itself should warn people of the possible moral implications.

 

[Ham1]

luv&pis^^:

Almost all of the artificial insemination techniques will entail that some or all of the implanted embryos would not survive. That fact by itself should warn people of the possible moral implications.

I’m not savvy in this area, but I was watching EWTN a few weeks ago, and Father Pakwa who hosts the show, explained that artifical insemination is immoral, because of the risk of killing innocent embryos that might not be wanted. If you want twins, and there are four embryos, I believe that those embryos are killed in the whole process, for example. That’s ultimately why it’s ‘immoral.’ I’m not familiar with any other types, though. Hope that sheds some light on it?

This is a common confusion…

I believe you mean “in vitro fertilization” here. Artificial Insemination does not result in multiple embryo’s because it is merely a means of putting sperm in close proximity to a naturally released egg in order to promote a “natural” conception. This is fundamentally different from in vitro procedures.

The Church has clearly stated that homologous/heterologous in vitro fertilizations as well as heterologous artificial insemination are always immoral. Homologous artificial insemination can be moral provided that the act assists and does not replace the natural conjugal act.

 

[JPIIFan]

IVF is not only wrong because it destroys embryoes (although that would be more than enough). It is also wrong because it creates children outside of an act of sexual intercourse.

Ham1, would you please explain homologous and heterologous AI? I don’t know those terms.

 

[Ham1]

JPIIFan:

Ham1, would you please explain homologous and heterologous AI? I don’t know those terms.

Sorry…heterologous means sperm obtained from someone “outside the marriage” basically intorducing a third party into the equation. Homologous means within the marriage meaning sperm from the husband and ova from the wife.

 

[manualman]

I’ve got nothing to cite, but I have also heard that artificial insemination of the man’s sperm into his wife immediately before or after the couple make love is OK. Logic, as I follow it is that the child truly then is directly the result of the loving act of man and wife. The only intervention is the time delay involved in “stocking up” on viable sperm for one big dose.

This is quite different from IVF where a child is created in a test tube, or the kind of artificial insemination where the insertion of sperm is totally isolated from the loving marital act.

Similarly, I have heard it is OK to collect semen for sperm count using a condom with a big honkin’ hole in it. Allows collection of semen without immoral side-effects.