What kind of infertility treatments are allowed?

[Alassea]

What does the Church say about treating infertility? I know that anything that involves a third person in the marital act, such as in vitro fertilization, is not allowed. But what about taking medication such as clomiphene, which regulates a woman’s cycles? Also, what about my husband providing a semen sample to be analyzed? How can he do this in a way that is moral?(He is not Catholic, by the way, but I am.) Can you point me in the right direction?

 

[Michelle_Arnold]

Alassëa:

But what about taking medication such as clomiphene, which regulates a woman’s cycles?

Yes, medications that assist fertility are permitted. If they carry the danger of the release of multiple eggs during ovulation, as do some fertility drugs, any licit precautions possible that can mitigate that risk should be used. (However, “selective reduction” of the number of embryos is not a licit option because it is a euphemism for abortion.) I recommend contacting the National Catholic Bioethics Center for more information.
Alassëa:

Also, what about my husband providing a semen sample to be analyzed? How can he do this in a way that is moral? (He is not Catholic, by the way, but I am.) Can you point me in the right direction?

Contact the Pope Paul VI Institute for the Study of Human Reproduction for information on a specially-designed condom that captures some of the semen to be used for sample purposes while allowing the rest to enter the woman (thus negating the contraceptive effect of the procedure). They may also have more information that you can share with your fertility specialist.