Does the Catholic Church have a stated opinion on the following subject?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Tamsulosin
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
The general rule is…

Anything which assists in the natural act of conception, such as drugs which facilitate ovulation, or corrective surgery to correct a problem (such as a blockage) in the fallopian tubes or the vas deferens is not prohibited. This is because these methods do not replace the marital act, the child is still directly conceived by two people in a sexual act, and only indirectly by science.

IVF, essentially takes the place of this act, which is intrinsically immoral. Using a method like this for the purposes of selecting the gender (or eye color, or hair, or anything) does not excuse this, it aggravates it, because man is trying to be God, and God alone should determine these things.

Laus Deo
 
DorianGregorian said:
The general rule is…

Anything which assists in the natural act of conception, such as drugs which facilitate ovulation, or corrective surgery to correct a problem (such as a blockage) in the fallopian tubes or the vas deferens is not prohibited. This is because these methods do not replace the marital act, the child is still directly conceived by two people in a sexual act, and only indirectly by science.

IVF, essentially takes the place of this act, which is intrinsically immoral. Using a method like this for the purposes of selecting the gender (or eye color, or hair, or anything) does not excuse this, it aggravates it, because man is trying to be God, and God alone should determine these things.

Laus Deo
Click to expand...
Also abortions to reduce the number of children concieved due to the use of fertility drugs that cause hyperovulation is also prohibitied.
 
Here’s a link to the Catechism of the Catholic Church – vatican.va/archive/catechism/p3s2c2a6.htm#III
In Part III. The Love of Husband and Wife, Paragraph 2373 talks about The Gift of a Child.”
I get sad when babies start being treated as products to be picked and chosen, as objects that “I have a right to”. It reminds me of slavery.

When a husband and wife make love, they can literally be making love. Children are gifts from God. If I were not able to bear children, I would try to see what other path the Lord has for me. What way is He calling me to?
 
choy said:
but what if a Catholic couple has already exhausted all natural means to conceive and its just not possible?
Click to expand...
consider adoption. i have heard that the CC is against any unatural form of conception.

one should not interfere with the plans of God. just because such methods is avalailble it does not mean it is proper for Catholics to use them. i feel for you if you cannot conceive. but God has a plan for you. just pray about it. if you read in the OT, many women could not conceive but God took care of them. Pray that His will be done.
 
i just find it hard to believe that if a couple`s only hope of getting a child born to them naturally rests in IVF, it is prohibited

dont tell me organ transplant is also prohibited. is it not an artificial prolonging to life when one persons organs are already naturally at their end?
 
choy said:
i just find it hard to believe that if a couple`s only hope of getting a child born to them naturally rests in IVF, it is prohibited

dont tell me organ transplant is also prohibited. is it not an artificial prolonging to life when one persons organs are already naturally at their end?
Click to expand...
There is nothing natural about IVF.

Organ transplant is prohibited when the danger to the person donating the organ would be unduly risking their life. The case of someone who has died or is brain dead is allowed.

But comparing organ donation to IVF is comparing apples to oranges. No one needs to get pregnant to stay alive.

There are other options besides IVF.

It seems that this thread was started with the intent of trying to prove that the Church’s stand against IVF is wrong. It is not. Those who support IVF are wrong. IVF is immoral, especially if it is being done for the only reason to select the sex of a child.
 
choy said:
i just find it hard to believe that if a couple`s only hope of getting a child born to them naturally rests in IVF, it is prohibited

dont tell me organ transplant is also prohibited. is it not an artificial prolonging to life when one persons organs are already naturally at their end?
Click to expand...
In addition to what ByzCath said, doesn’t IVF also result in the death of MANY embryos (babies) due to the fact that they don’t simply fertilize 1 egg but many? I was under the impression that most die prior to leaving the petri dish. Some that survive the 3-4 days in the dish are then inserted in the uterus. Of those, most will not attach and thus die. Then… if more than 1 does actually attach and the “parents” do not want multiple children, a proceedure called fetal reduction is done. This proceedure is nothing less than an abortion and involves injecting potassium chloride into the heart of the embryo (unwanted baby). Now… what part of any of this sounds acceptable? From what I heard 19 out of 20 embryos (babies) will die in order that 1 will be carried to full term. And that is ONLY if the procedure is “successful” the first time around and thus does not have to be re-done over and over again. IVF is the epitome of selfishness. 😦
 
DorianGregorian said:
The general rule is…

IVF, essentially takes the place of this act, which is intrinsically immoral. Using a method like this for the purposes of selecting the gender (or eye color, or hair, or anything) does not excuse this, it aggravates it, because man is trying to be God, and God alone should determine these things.

Laus Deo
Click to expand...
Bingo.
"A day will come when the civilized world will deny its God, when the Church will doubt as Peter doubted. She will be tempted to believe that man has become God. In our churches, Christians will search in vain for the red lamp where God awaits them. Like Mary Magdalene, weeping before the empty tomb, they will ask, “Where have they taken him?” -Pope Pius XII
Click to expand...
 
ByzCath said:
There is nothing natural about IVF.

It seems that this thread was started with the intent of trying to prove that the Church’s stand against IVF is wrong.

ByzCath,your unthoughtful statement based in nothing, highly offends me.
I started this thread .
I thought this forum is for people that have questions about our Church.I respectfuly posted the question, and I expect a respectful answer.I am just as opposed to abortion as any Catholic,and I thought it was an interesting question given the fact that rarely gender selection is mentioned as implicating abortion.I did not know involved abortion either.I have seen the Fertility clinic’s ads advertising gender selection,in journals that come to the medical office where I work.
I gave an example to clarify my question.I am beyond the age of having children.

Show me where I argued with the intent to “try to prove that the Church’s stand against IVF is wrong.”
To lie and to state inaccurately the intention of other person to make her look bad is a sin and uncharitable. It is the self righteous people like you, that jump all over other people for requesting information on a subject that make me want to quit this forum.
Click to expand...
 
Tamsulosin said:
ByzCath,your unthoughtful statement based in nothing, highly offends me.
I started this thread .
I thought this forum is for people that have questions about our Church.I respectfuly posted the question, and I expect a respectful answer.I am just as opposed to abortion as any Catholic,and I thought it was an interesting question given the fact that rarely gender selection is mentioned as implicating abortion.I did not know involved abortion either.I have seen the Fertility clinic’s ads advertising gender selection,in journals that come to the medical office where I work.
I gave an example to clarify my question.I am beyond the age of having children.

Show me where I argued with the intent to “try to prove that the Church’s stand against IVF is wrong.”
To lie and to state inaccurately the intention of other person to make her look bad is a sin and uncharitable. It is the self righteous people like you, that jump all over other people for requesting information on a subject that make me want to quit this forum.
Click to expand...
I am sorry and apologize. I thought the thread was started by the user I was replying to, choy, but I see that I was wrong so I retract that statment and will say that it appears that a user who lists his religion as Catholic is trying to show that the Chruch’s Teaching against IVF is wrong.
 
Tamsulosin said:
I am asking because I understand involves taking some cells from 3 day embrios, analize them,and only transfer to the uterus those that will result in babies of the prechosen gender.That is one of the most successful methods, although there are others.
more related to altering the chemistry in the mucose.But I do not know much about this.I believe I read that.
Click to expand...
This is definately against church teaching.

There are “old wife’s tales” with methods to increase the chances of a certain gender that do not involve IVF, embryo destruction, and artificial implantation. Those traditional methods may be acceptable. But they are probably not too successful, and the parents would have to accept whatever gender the new baby was.
 
Hello ByzCath,I gladly accept your apology.🙂
I think that within the conversations in the media about abortion then this form of abortion:gender selection, should be brought to light,so that people are aware of it.
At least there is some positive outcome from this thread, which is spreading important information to people like me that was not quite sure about the moral implications of these many new techniques.I get to talk to a lot of patients so this is info that I can use, now that I know.
 
choy said:
i just find it hard to believe that if a couple`s only hope of getting a child born to them naturally rests in IVF, it is prohibited
Click to expand...
The problem with IVF is that it doesn’t provide a cure to the fertility problem. Thanks to IVF, secular perintologists really don’t have any incentive to cure infertility because they’ll just resort to IUI or IVF to bypass the problems altogether. However, IVF doesn’t have a terribly high success rate and has a higher chance of miscarriage.

That’s why I’m grateful to people like Dr. Thomas Hilgers at the Pope Paul VI institute, who is helping women conceive via morally legitimate means that actually have a higher success rate than IVF!

popepaulvi.com/

The bottom line, though, is that Catholics cannot do evil (IVF and such) so that good (a child) may result.
 
ByzCath said:
I am sorry and apologize. I thought the thread was started by the user I was replying to, choy, but I see that I was wrong so I retract that statment and will say that it appears that a user who lists his religion as Catholic is trying to show that the Chruch’s Teaching against IVF is wrong.
Click to expand...
oh, i’m sorry. i didn’t know people were not allowed to question their own faith here. i have grown in my own faith because i question and challenge things that were taught to me until i learn the truth about them. but it seems some people are content to be told something and believe in it blindly or that some people expect other people to just follow what they are told blindly. what did Jesus say again about a blind man leading another blind man?
 
choy said:
oh, i’m sorry. i didn’t know people were not allowed to question their own faith here. i have grown in my own faith because i question and challenge things that were taught to me until i learn the truth about them. but it seems some people are content to be told something and believe in it blindly or that some people expect other people to just follow what they are told blindly. what did Jesus say again about a blind man leading another blind man?
Click to expand...
There’s a difference between questioning one’s faith and refusing to accept or even meditate upon the answers given. You seem to be doing the latter as opposed to the former.
 
choy said:
oh, i’m sorry. i didn’t know people were not allowed to question their own faith here. i have grown in my own faith because i question and challenge things that were taught to me until i learn the truth about them. but it seems some people are content to be told something and believe in it blindly or that some people expect other people to just follow what they are told blindly. what did Jesus say again about a blind man leading another blind man?
Click to expand...
Sure, you can question your faith, but if you go too far then it’s no longer yours.

Do you understand why murder is wrong? Then do you understand why abortion is wrong? Then do you understand how the IVF process leads to countless abortions? And how it offends God? There’s no questioning this, and I am truly sorry if this is personal to you. Whatever the case, please stop trying to justify IVF! There is no excuse for choosing IVF, only confession.
 
ljubim said:
Sure, you can question your faith, but if you go too far then it’s no longer yours.

Do you understand why murder is wrong? Then do you understand why abortion is wrong? Then do you understand how the IVF process leads to countless abortions? And how it offends God? There’s no questioning this, and I am truly sorry if this is personal to you. Whatever the case, please stop trying to justify IVF! There is no excuse for choosing IVF, only confession.
Click to expand...
before i go any further, how many of you here know of people close and dear to them trying to conceive and can’t?
 
choy said:
before i go any further, how many of you here know of people close and dear to them trying to conceive and can’t?
Click to expand...
Quite a few. But it doesn’t matter. It’s a matter of obeying Christ and his Church, or disobeying. We can’t pick and choose which of God’s laws to follow based on our feelings or our convenience or our sympathy for others. We follow God’s law because He knows best and He has a plan for us, even if it is difficult to understand.
 
choy said:
before i go any further, how many of you here know of people close and dear to them trying to conceive and can’t?
Click to expand...
My sister and her husband. And after they ran through all their legitimate options, they chose to adopt. I love my neices and I know they were meant to be part of our family.

Putting your desire to conceive above the laws of God makes an idol of that baby. If your goal is to have a children, you do not have to conceive for that to be.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top