Infertility question

  • Thread starter Thread starter obillwan
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
O

obillwan

Guest
My husband and I have been struggling with infertility for 2 years. I was diagnosed with endometriosis shortly after we got married. I have gone to Catholic doctors and done NFP(Creighton model) and had 2 surgeries to remove the endo. We originally never considered IUI because we thought it was against Catholic teaching, however we recently learned that the church is undecided on this procedure, if the sperm is collected in a perferated condom during sex. We have read about this on several sights and everyone says it 's up to your own conscience because it is a gray area. We know there are some priests who would say it is okay and some who would say it’s not. We’re torn because we don’t want to do anything against God, but at the same time, we want to do everything we can to have a child. We want to know if it is a sin to do something if it’s undecided by the church, or is it really okay to leave it up to our conscience.
 
This one is kind of tricky for me just thinking about it. We have to look at the reason condom use is not allowed by the Church: because it separates the unitive and pro-creative aspects of intercourse.

In this case, the pro-creative action is already lacking/impaired before the condom use and the whole purpose of using it is to collect sperm and so facilitate the pro-creative aspect. In that sense I could see why that scenario might be considered allowable.

To me the perforations in the condom would be more symbolic than anything else because (1) it’s being used with the intent of facilitating life, (2) conception isn’t happening regardless of whether it’s being used or not so it can’t really be said to be acting as a contraceptive. Of course that’s just my personal opinion.

The opposing viewpoint could be that it is not the job of human beings to artificially interfere in the act of conception but to accept His will in whether a marriage is blessed with children or not. Such a concept would bring into question all fertility treatments that are not totally natural interventions.

There is the additional view that condom use is intrinsically evil even when used with good intent; a view that to be honest, I sometimes have trouble with.

Do we know for sure that the Church has not ruled definitively on IUI?
 
What’s IUI?

The Church does teach against IVF and artificial insemination. Conception must take place within the marital act. CCC 2376-2377

But I believe that the use of a perforated condom to collect sperm to be examined by a doctor is OK. I think I saw that in the Ask an Apologist forum a couple of years ago.

HTH,

Ruthie
 
… also, regarding whether the Church has decided on this or not, we found the following on the US Catholic Bishops website …

"Reproductive Technologies under Discussion (neither ‘approved’ nor ‘disapproved’):

– Gamete intra-fallopian transfer (GIFT).
(The Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has not yet pronounced on the subject.)

– Intrauterine insemination (IUI) of ‘licitly obtained’ (normal intercourse) but technologically prepared semen sample (washed, etc.)."

usccb.org/prolife/issues/nfp/treatment.htm
 
The church has not ruled authoritatively on IUI. So it is left to the individual to make the final judgement call. I’ve seen the various noted moralists on either side of the issue with most ruling against. However if you should go through the procedure then you must take steps to insure that the sperm will be licitly obtained.

You might want to send an email to the NCBC and see how they lay it out.

ncbcenter.org/
 
obillwan said:
… also, regarding whether the Church has decided on this or not, we found the following on the US Catholic Bishops website …

"Reproductive Technologies under Discussion (neither ‘approved’ nor ‘disapproved’):

– Gamete intra-fallopian transfer (GIFT).
(The Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has not yet pronounced on the subject.)

– Intrauterine insemination (IUI) of ‘licitly obtained’ (normal intercourse) but technologically prepared semen sample (washed, etc.)."

usccb.org/prolife/issues/nfp/treatment.htm
Click to expand...
Seatuck said:
The church has not ruled authoritatively on IUI. So it is left to the individual to make the final judgement call. I’ve seen the various noted moralists on either side of the issue with most ruling against. However if you should go through the procedure then you must take steps to insure that the sperm will be licitly obtained.

You might want to send an email to the NCBC and see how they lay it out.

ncbcenter.org/
Click to expand...
In addition to what both of you have said, there is also this article from the USCCB written by the president of the National Catholic Bioethics Center:

usccb.org/prolife/programs/rlp/98rlphaa.shtml

Under the “Moral Interventions to Overcome Infertility” section, it talks about GIFT and specifically says that Catholics are free to use it or not depending on their own consciences (with licitly obtained semen of course) as long as it remains “under discussion”. If it is ever condemend though, it may no longer be used. Since IUI with licitly obtained semen is placed in the same category, it seems reasonable to assume that it also fits under this allowance. Actually, since Donum Vitae specifically mentions artificial insemination between husband and wife as acceptable when the technology does not substitute for the marital act, one could almost argue that IUI is unquestionably moral (I’ll leave that to the bishops and theologians though).

While the above article was not written by the bishops, its being posted to the USCCB site implies approval.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top