Catholic view on egg freezing?

[_Abyssinia]

I am a bit confused about how Catholics should view egg freezing? Can anybody please offer more clarity on this? Is there anything official on the morality of egg freezing from the Vatican?

In case anybody doesn’t know, egg freezing is explained at following link:

Egg freezing is for women who want to have a baby one day, but aren’t ready to get pregnant yet. Eggs are taken from your ovaries and frozen until you want to use them.

After your eggs are harvested they are covered with cryoprotectant, a freezing solution that protects them. Then they’re frozen immediately – either by cooling them slowly or by a newer process called vitrification.

Egg freezing: What you need to know | BabyCentre

This is a bit of an old article, from 2005, but it is reported:

“Egg freezing shouldn’t be an issue for the Catholic Church,” said Dr. Kaylen Silverberg, medical director of a Texas fertility clinic working with Extend and another organization, Fertile Hope

“The Vatican hospital does egg extracting and the Catholic Church approves of the fertilization procedure," Silverberg explains, "as long as the eggs are immediately implanted in the woman and fertilization happens inside her body.”

Egg Freezing May Offer Fertility Freedom | Fox News

For what purposes does the Vatican hospital do egg extraction for and what “fertilisation procedure” does the Vatican hospital approve of exactly?

From my understanding, the eggs that have been frozen can’t just then be implanted back into the body for natural fertilisation to then occur through sexual intercourse, but as the following links says regarding what happens with the frozen eggs:

When you are ready to have children, you will need to undergo In-Vitro Fertilization to become pregnant. This treatment involves securing a sperm sample from your husband or a willing donor. The sperm is used to fertilize any of the thawed eggs that are thought to remain viable. The fertilization occurs in a lab so that technicians can ensure that the sperm actually penetrates the outer shell of the egg. Only eggs that become fertilized and start to divide into multiple cells will become implanted in your uterus. Most clinics choose the strongest three or four eggs and implant them all at once.

https://www.duedatecalculator.org/freezing-your-eggs/

In the normal IVF process it is known that fertilised embryos can be destroyed but I am not sure if any fertilised embryos would be destroyed in the process for frozen eggs which are then fertilised?

 

[Mary_Ellen]

what “fertilisation procedure” does the Vatican hospital approve of exactly?

Any fertilization procedure which involves masturbation to procure sperm would not be acceptable. Using a perforated condom might be an acceptable way to collect sperm but fertilization inside the womb outside the marital act is questionable.

 

[Mary_Ellen]

In the normal IVF process it is known that fertilised embryos can be destroyed but I am not sure if any fertilised embryos would be destroyed in the process for frozen eggs which are then fertilised?

IVF is condemned for at least three reasons. First, it removes the act of fertilization from the marital act. Two, generally sperm is collected though masturbation. Three, some of the human beings created through IVF are destroyed, deliberately or accidentally by the very process. These reasons remain whether ‘fresh’ or frozen eggs are used.

 

[PaulfromIowa]

I had never heard of this “gamete intrafallopian transfer” (GIFT) described in the 2005 FoxNews article. I do not know if the Church has ever spoken on it.

In vitro fertilization is inherently immoral, for several reasons. It always involves the deliberate destruction of developing embryos.

 

[1ke]

I am a bit confused about how Catholics should view egg freezing? Can anybody please offer more clarity on this? Is there anything official on the morality of egg freezing from the Vatican

Egg freezing per se is morally acceptable. Eggs are not people. The Church has no position on this.

However, what a person does with these eggs can indeed be either moral or immoral. See the Church documents Donum Vitae and Dignitas Personae regarding the techniques related to fertilizing and gestating embryos from such a situation as a frozen oocyte.

I don’t think there are currently any methods that include fertilization through natural sexual intercourse. But things change reapidly in this field. Homologous or hererologus IVF or insemination and surrogacy are all disordered and cannot be chosen. A number of newer techniques are addressed in Dignitas Personae.

 

[1ke]

For what purposes does the Vatican hospital do egg extraction for and what “fertilisation procedure” does the Vatican hospital approve of exactly?

Can’t answer the first one, but the second one is easy— fertilization through sexual intercourse of husband and wife.

 

[TheLittleLady]

The Church provides guidance:

http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/c...cfaith_doc_20081208_dignitas-personae_en.html

 

[_Abyssinia]

I thought the eggs could be retrieved and frozen, and then implanted back when a time is decided to perhaps increase the chance of getting pregnant, and the woman would have sexual intercourse as normal to try and fertilise one of the eggs, but having done some research that doesn’t seem the way that that is done.

Does anybody know if the eggs can be frozen and implanted back without any IVF?

 

[TheLittleLady]

Basic human biology, fertilization takes place in the Fallopian tube (not in the uterus). I am unaware of any medical procedure that would implant an ovum into the Fallopian tube.

 

[fredystairs]

I had never heard of this “gamete intrafallopian transfer” (GIFT) described in the 2005 FoxNews article. I do not know if the Church has ever spoken on it.

In the GIFT procedure, an egg from the woman and the sperm from the man are put into a catheter with an air bubble in between the two. The catheter is inserted into the woman and the egg and sperm injected. This procedure is immoral. Dignitas Personae #16 reads: “The Church moreover holds that it is ethically unacceptable to dissociate procreation from the integrally personal context of the conjugal act.” Since GIFT is done outside of the conjugal act, it is immoral.

I believe that the procedure attempts to aim at the fallopian tube, but I am unsure.

 

[1ke]

Does anybody know if the eggs can be frozen and implanted back without any IVF?

I don’t believe that such a technology exists.

 

[dallas_r]

I agree with @Mary_Ellen . At first, I thought this thread would be about freezing chicken eggs. I’m actually curious as to what will happen if I freeze a chicken egg.

 

[TheLittleLady]

It will crack and make a mess.

To freeze chicken eggs, break them first and freeze in a freezer bag or other container. Some folks break them into ice trays and freeze them that way