Is implanting frozen embryos wrong?

[mpartyka]

Dignitas Personae says:

With regard to the large number of frozen embryos already in existence the question becomes: what to do with them?..The proposal that these embryos could be put at the disposal of…couples as a treatment for infertility [or as a form of “prenatal adoption” to prevent the embryos’ destruction] is not ethically acceptable for the same reasons which make artificial heterologous procreation illicit as well as any form of surrogate motherhood; this practice would also lead to other problems of a medical, psychological and legal nature.

I do not understand the reasoning behind these statements. Artificial procreation is illicit because it involves the joining together of a sperm and an egg outside the unitive conjugal act of marriage – the same is true of the embryos produced with surrogate motherhood in mind, which is what makes surrogate motherhood illicit. But once someone has committed the illicit act and created a human embryo, procreation is over and there is now a new human life to be considered and cared for. Embryos created through other illicit means (e.g., through extramarital sex or rape) are afforded the same dignity and protection as licitly created embryos. So how does the implantation of an already-created embryo in the womb of a woman – let us assume the best circumstances: that this woman is married and intends that she and her husband will parent the child after it is born – constitute an illicit act rather than a form of adoption (albeit very, very early)? Specifically, how does implantation after illicit procreation constitute an illicit act “for the same reasons” as do artificial procreation and surrogate motherhood as stated by Dignitas Personae?

 

[Augusta_Crowley]

The following link should answer your question about implanting frozen embryos. If you have any further questions, please contact Catholic Answers directly.

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