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CatholicLife
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What is the Church view on surrogacy.
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noclevername
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I don’t know what the church’s view on surrogacy but the only way have a surrogate get pregnant with your child is by IVF. And the only way to do IVF is if the male masturbates in order to collect the sperm and masturbation is against Canon law so therefore using a surrogate would probably not be condoned either.
K
Katholikos7
Guest
The concept of surrogacy goes against moral law in much the same way In Vitro Fertilization does. It takes creation out of the context in which God created it to be in. To clarify things, I’m sure the Church is against it.What is the Church view on surrogacy.
L
lifeisbeautiful
Guest
Here is a quote from the Catechism that addresses the subject:
**2376 **Techniques that entail the dissociation of husband and wife, by the intrusion of a person other than the couple (donation of sperm or ovum, surrogate uterus), are gravely immoral.
scborromeo.org/ccc/para/2376.htm
**2376 **Techniques that entail the dissociation of husband and wife, by the intrusion of a person other than the couple (donation of sperm or ovum, surrogate uterus), are gravely immoral.
scborromeo.org/ccc/para/2376.htm
N
noclevername
Guest
It is against the Church. Here is a copy and paste of an answer from Q & A answered by a priest at this website. en.allexperts.com/q/Catholics-955/2008/6/Surrogacy.htm
*Expert: Bro. Ignatius Mary, OLSM, L.Th. - 6/25/2008
Answer
Well, you cannot condone or encourage a surrogate pregnancy. That is immoral and a violation of the sanctity of marriage and a violation of the rights of the child. It removes from the creative process the mutual self-giving of the husband and wife that God intended and brings in a third party into the marriage. It removes love from the act of procreation. This is wrong.
The reasons that surrogacy is immoral is rooted in a deep theology of the Sacrament of Marriage, the purpose of marriage, and the purpose of marital sex and procreation. Since most Catholics don’t seem to understand this theology, a non-Catholic is unlikely to.
As such, she has no reason to not do this. Her own denomination does not have a theology to proscribe this action, she has not been taught the philosophical and theological suppositions behind this teaching as thus she has no grounding to think she is doing anything wrong.
Given all that the primary thing you can do is to pray for her. However, the following may be helpful…
Once a baby is conceived, even by surrogacy, the baby is a blessing as is any baby.
But at what price will this child come into the world. Most people do not understand the process of how gestational surrogacy (aka the Host method via embryo transfer / In vitro fertilization) is done.
With In vitro fertilization in order to have a live birth 7-10 or more babies must die.
Using the husband’s sperm and a surrogate’s donated hyperovulated eggs, fertilization is achieved in a petri dish. The six to eight embryos may be quick-frozen, and stored in the lab for possible future use (but usually are forgotten and die). Then two or three or more of the embryos are implanted, at just the right time of the cycle, in the wife’s uterus. The fetuses grow, and later on, if more than one was viable, the extra fetus(es) may be removed. This is called selective reduction. In reality this is abortion, the killing of the “extra” babies. The remaining healthy fetus would grow to term in the wife’s body.
If traditional surrogacy is used, in which the husband’s sperm in injected into the surrogate’s uterus by artificial insemination (the same procedure for impregnating cattle).
Artificial insemination does violence to the dignity of the human person. It separates the sexual act from the procreative act. "The act which brings the child into existence is no longer an act by which two persons give themselves to one another, but one that “entrusts the life and identity of the embryo into the power of doctors and biologists and establishes the domination of technology over the origin and destiny of the human person.”
The Catechism of the Catholic Church:
The gift of a child
2373 Sacred Scripture and the Church’s traditional practice see in large families a sign of God’s blessing and the parents’ generosity.163
2374 Couples who discover that they are sterile suffer greatly. “What will you give me,” asks Abraham of God, “for I continue childless?” And Rachel cries to her husband Jacob, “Give me children, or I shall die!”
2375 Research aimed at reducing human sterility is to be encouraged, on condition that it is placed “at the service of the human person, of his inalienable rights, and his true and integral good according to the design and will of God.”
2376 Techniques that entail the dissociation of husband and wife, by the intrusion of a person other than the couple (donation of sperm or ovum, surrogate uterus), are gravely immoral. These techniques (heterologous artificial insemination and fertilization) infringe the child’s right to be born of a father and mother known to him and bound to each other by marriage. They betray the spouses’ “right to become a father and a mother only through each other.”
2377 Techniques involving only the married couple (homologous artificial insemination and fertilization) are perhaps less reprehensible, yet remain morally unacceptable. They dissociate the sexual act from the procreative act. The act which brings the child into existence is no longer an act by which two persons give themselves to one another, but one that "entrusts the life and identity of the embryo into the power of doctors and biologists and establishes the domination of technology over the origin and destiny of the human person. Such a relationship of domination is in itself contrary to the dignity and equality that must be common to parents and children."168 “Under the moral aspect procreation is deprived of its proper perfection when it is not willed as the fruit of the conjugal act, that is to say, of the specific act of the spouses’ union . . . . Only respect for the link between the meanings of the conjugal act and respect for the unity of the human being make possible procreation in conformity with the dignity of the person.”
2378 A child is not something owed to one, but is a gift. The “supreme gift of marriage” is a human person. A child may not be considered a piece of property, an idea to which an alleged “right to a child” would lead. In this area, only the child possesses genuine rights: the right “to be the fruit of the specific act of the conjugal love of his parents,” and “the right to be respected as a person from the moment of his conception.”
2379 The Gospel shows that physical sterility is not an absolute evil. Spouses who still suffer from infertility after exhausting legitimate medical procedures should unite themselves with the Lord’s Cross, the source of all spiritual fecundity. They can give expression to their generosity by adopting abandoned children or performing demanding services for others.
*
*Expert: Bro. Ignatius Mary, OLSM, L.Th. - 6/25/2008
Answer
Well, you cannot condone or encourage a surrogate pregnancy. That is immoral and a violation of the sanctity of marriage and a violation of the rights of the child. It removes from the creative process the mutual self-giving of the husband and wife that God intended and brings in a third party into the marriage. It removes love from the act of procreation. This is wrong.
The reasons that surrogacy is immoral is rooted in a deep theology of the Sacrament of Marriage, the purpose of marriage, and the purpose of marital sex and procreation. Since most Catholics don’t seem to understand this theology, a non-Catholic is unlikely to.
As such, she has no reason to not do this. Her own denomination does not have a theology to proscribe this action, she has not been taught the philosophical and theological suppositions behind this teaching as thus she has no grounding to think she is doing anything wrong.
Given all that the primary thing you can do is to pray for her. However, the following may be helpful…
Once a baby is conceived, even by surrogacy, the baby is a blessing as is any baby.
But at what price will this child come into the world. Most people do not understand the process of how gestational surrogacy (aka the Host method via embryo transfer / In vitro fertilization) is done.
With In vitro fertilization in order to have a live birth 7-10 or more babies must die.
Using the husband’s sperm and a surrogate’s donated hyperovulated eggs, fertilization is achieved in a petri dish. The six to eight embryos may be quick-frozen, and stored in the lab for possible future use (but usually are forgotten and die). Then two or three or more of the embryos are implanted, at just the right time of the cycle, in the wife’s uterus. The fetuses grow, and later on, if more than one was viable, the extra fetus(es) may be removed. This is called selective reduction. In reality this is abortion, the killing of the “extra” babies. The remaining healthy fetus would grow to term in the wife’s body.
If traditional surrogacy is used, in which the husband’s sperm in injected into the surrogate’s uterus by artificial insemination (the same procedure for impregnating cattle).
Artificial insemination does violence to the dignity of the human person. It separates the sexual act from the procreative act. "The act which brings the child into existence is no longer an act by which two persons give themselves to one another, but one that “entrusts the life and identity of the embryo into the power of doctors and biologists and establishes the domination of technology over the origin and destiny of the human person.”
The Catechism of the Catholic Church:
The gift of a child
2373 Sacred Scripture and the Church’s traditional practice see in large families a sign of God’s blessing and the parents’ generosity.163
2374 Couples who discover that they are sterile suffer greatly. “What will you give me,” asks Abraham of God, “for I continue childless?” And Rachel cries to her husband Jacob, “Give me children, or I shall die!”
2375 Research aimed at reducing human sterility is to be encouraged, on condition that it is placed “at the service of the human person, of his inalienable rights, and his true and integral good according to the design and will of God.”
2376 Techniques that entail the dissociation of husband and wife, by the intrusion of a person other than the couple (donation of sperm or ovum, surrogate uterus), are gravely immoral. These techniques (heterologous artificial insemination and fertilization) infringe the child’s right to be born of a father and mother known to him and bound to each other by marriage. They betray the spouses’ “right to become a father and a mother only through each other.”
2377 Techniques involving only the married couple (homologous artificial insemination and fertilization) are perhaps less reprehensible, yet remain morally unacceptable. They dissociate the sexual act from the procreative act. The act which brings the child into existence is no longer an act by which two persons give themselves to one another, but one that "entrusts the life and identity of the embryo into the power of doctors and biologists and establishes the domination of technology over the origin and destiny of the human person. Such a relationship of domination is in itself contrary to the dignity and equality that must be common to parents and children."168 “Under the moral aspect procreation is deprived of its proper perfection when it is not willed as the fruit of the conjugal act, that is to say, of the specific act of the spouses’ union . . . . Only respect for the link between the meanings of the conjugal act and respect for the unity of the human being make possible procreation in conformity with the dignity of the person.”
2378 A child is not something owed to one, but is a gift. The “supreme gift of marriage” is a human person. A child may not be considered a piece of property, an idea to which an alleged “right to a child” would lead. In this area, only the child possesses genuine rights: the right “to be the fruit of the specific act of the conjugal love of his parents,” and “the right to be respected as a person from the moment of his conception.”
2379 The Gospel shows that physical sterility is not an absolute evil. Spouses who still suffer from infertility after exhausting legitimate medical procedures should unite themselves with the Lord’s Cross, the source of all spiritual fecundity. They can give expression to their generosity by adopting abandoned children or performing demanding services for others.
*
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