Donum Vitae surrogacy/adoption question

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nodito

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Recently, I’ve been asked by a couple of different people about the Church’s position on surrogacy. In researching this issue a bit, I read part of Donum Vitae, and I have a question about one of the passages:
Respect for the unity of marriage and for conjugal fidelity demands that the child be conceived in marriage; the bond existing between husband and wife accords the spouses, in an objective and inalienable manner, the exclusive right to become father and mother solely through each other.
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I understand this to be an explanation of why IVF and heterologous artificial insemination is wrong. What I’m not seeing is how, if the spouses have an “inalienable” right to become parents only through each other, why this doesn’t also preclude adoption.

Also, has anyone found any good Catholic blogs that discuss surrogacy?

Thanks!
 
In the case of adoption, there is a child who is deprived of his right to parents. A couple, recognizing that need, choose to raise him up as one of their own. That is a loving and self-sacrificial end, in the model of St. Joseph, who raised up Jesus. Donum Vitae doesn’t apply.
 
Adoption is an act of charity to the child who has no parents. Remember, the corporal works of mercy include helping the weak, defenseless, homeless… widows and orphans.
 
1ke said:
This is an entirely different question.
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Only in that the embryo in question isn’t frozen, but that’s hardly much difference. The general idea is that the IVF needed to make an embryo is wrong under any circumstances, so that portion of surrogacy is wrong. Apparently the Church is teaching that the implantation portion of surrogacy is also wrong, but for the life of me I don’t see why, as to me that would be nothing more than adoption (assuming the woman who is “surrogating” intends to be the child’s mother). So to me, creating embryos artificially is wrong, but taking embryos that have already been created artificially and bringing them to term is not necessarily wrong. (But the Church may teach otherwise.)
 
mpartyka said:
Only in that the embryo in question isn’t frozen, but that’s hardly much difference. The general idea is that the IVF needed to make an embryo is wrong under any circumstances, so that portion of surrogacy is wrong. Apparently the Church is teaching that the implantation portion of surrogacy is also wrong, but for the life of me I don’t see why, as to me that would be nothing more than adoption (assuming the woman who is “surrogating” intends to be the child’s mother). So to me, creating embryos artificially is wrong, but taking embryos that have already been created artificially and bringing them to term is not necessarily wrong. (But the Church may teach otherwise.)
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The OP is asking about born children, not embryos.
 
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