Why is IVF wrong?

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IzzyD

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My mum and dad had ivf so they could have me and my twin brother (using my dads sperm and a donor egg). I have been told that I am unnatural, that I have no soul, that God doesn’t love me because I was created against His will. I’d like to make it clear that only three eggs were fertilised and all were used although one did fail to attach itself to the uterus wall which often happens when an egg is fertilised naturally anyway. So no embryos were killed in the process. Does this somehow make me a bad person? It wasn’t my fault I was created using ivf and I’d hate to think God rejects me as His child because of this.
 
IzzyD said:
My mum and dad had ivf so they could have me and my twin brother (using my dads sperm and a donor egg). I have been told that I am unnatural, that I have no soul, that God doesn’t love me because I was created against His will. I’d like to make it clear that only three eggs were fertilised and all were used although one did fail to attach itself to the uterus wall which often happens when an egg is fertilised naturally anyway. So no embryos were killed in the process. Does this somehow make me a bad person? It wasn’t my fault I was created using ivf and I’d hate to think God rejects me as His child because of this.
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There is absolutely nothing wrong with you. (well, there’s something-or-other wrong with everybody, but there is nothing wrong with you because you were conceived with IVF 🙂 )

Of course you have a soul and of course God loves you. It is unfortunate that you were deprived every child’s right to be conceived during the marital act, but it certainly does NOT mean that you are a bad person or that God rejects you. It also doesn’t mean that your parents are bad people.

I pray that God will comfort and support you and will give true repentance to anyone who has said God doesn’t love you or that you don’t have a soul.

–Jen
 
That’s nonsense whoever told you that you have no soul or that God doesn’t love you. God loves all His children and you are one, unique and created in His image, as beautiful and as dignified as anyone who ever lived. Keep that in mind as you read anything about IVF and don’t forget it. Think also - a child produced by rape is also a beautiful child, loved by God, regardless of the obviously horrible way in which the child was conceived. Even though that child is special and lovable and filled by God’s love, it doesn’t mean it’s okay to rape to produce children.

Anyway, the reason IVF is considered sinful in itself as an act is because it removes the act of intimacy from the marital act. The marriage sacrament is the image of Christ’s “marriage” to the Church. He is the bridegroom and the Church is his bride. This is all Biblical and part of Church doctrine and God’s revelation. Anyway, the marital act is a participation in that union of Christ and the Church - the product of this union is life. In Christ’s case with the Church, it produces eternal life. In husband’s union with wife, physical life is produced. IVF beckons the commoditizing of children, removing the act of “love” from the production of life. Christ exemplified the ultimate act of love on the cross when he gave himself for his bride. Thus when the giving of the self during a nuptial act is removed in the creation of life, the sacramental image is erased—life is no longer delivered in the way Christ’s union with his bride the Church delivers life—in the giving of the self. In commoditizing a child, the sign of love normatively enacted in conception is eliminated from conception. Thus it is an impediment to the dignified order of the sacrament because the sacrament demands that the sign of union between bridge and bridegroom be present. Now maybe our parents were aware or not aware of that, so they might not have even sinned in trying IVF - however, that is not the ordered way to effect the marital sacrament one way or another.

Anyway, I’m sorry that anyone burdened you with silly thoughts about you not having a soul. You have a soul and are a wonderful person.
:o
 
IzzyD said:
I have been told that I am unnatural, that I have no soul, that God doesn’t love me because I was created against His will.
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I am sorry that anyone would say such a cruel and totally idiotic thing to you. I am sure that is hurtful. Be assured that God does love you, and you absolutely do have a soul.
IzzyD said:
Does this somehow make me a bad person?
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Absolutely not.
IzzyD said:
It wasn’t my fault I was created using
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You are absolutely correct. Although your parents made some wrong choices, God did allow good to come from those wrong choices.

Regarding IVF, I would encourage you to read two Church documents: Donum Vitae and Dignitas Personae. You can Google those titles and they will come up online.
IzzyD said:
and I’d hate to think God rejects me as His child because of this.
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God does not reject you. God loves you and your brother. You are a child of God like everyone else.
 
IzzyD said:
one did fail to attach itself to the uterus wall which often happens when an egg is fertilised naturally anyway. So no embryos were killed in the process.
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Also, just an FYI, the Church believes that life begins prior to implantation in the uterine wall.
 
First, the nature of a child’s conception has no bearing on the soul of the child. Children born of immoral acts are no less beloved by God than those conceived according to his plan.

As for why IVF is immoral. The best description I’ve heard is that it’s the flip side of contraception. In contraception procreation is removed from sex. IVF is the opposite in that sex is removed from procreation. The two are intimately linked and separating them through either act pushes us further from Gods design. Essentially both contraception and IVF are acts that put our own desires before what God has set in place. Just think of the Creed; “I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life…” Each seeks to control what is rightly God’s to control.

Another objection to IVF is that it often include donor gametes (i.e. sperm or egg). This means that there are at least 3 people involved (possibly 4) where God designed it to be the result of the act of 2 people.
 
I think everyone above is correct, so I don’t have anything to add there.

However, this reminds me of a funny story. I was talking to a very nice couple, who in the past had trouble having children. They did IVF three times and ended up with two kids, who they love very much. It’s a very nice family.

Anyways, I was talking to the dad about all this, and he was saying how they had the option to select the sex of the babies. He didn’t want to to that though, because “that’s like, playing God, right?” I laughed and laughed and laughed…and I don’t think he knew why. 🙂

I thought it was ironic anyways. 🙂
 
Garyjohn2 said:
I think everyone above is correct, so I don’t have anything to add there.

However, this reminds me of a funny story. I was talking to a very nice couple, who in the past had trouble having children. They did IVF three times and ended up with two kids, who they love very much. It’s a very nice family.

Anyways, I was talking to the dad about all this, and he was saying how they had the option to select the sex of the babies. He didn’t want to to that though, because “that’s like, playing God, right?” I laughed and laughed and laughed…and I don’t think he knew why. 🙂

I thought it was ironic anyways. 🙂
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Oh, people are amazing! Definitely ironic!

Izzy,
I agree with everyone else. Don’t worry, and don’t listen to anyone foolish enough to say you have no soul!
 
Remember that God can bring good out of bad?

Just because the procedure which helped to create you IS considered a grave sin, YOU are not! You are a child of God, and a wonderfully made thing 🙂
 
IzzyD,

Though only three embryos were implanted, it is almost certain that the (standard IVF) laboratory used a process called embryo selection (morphological scoring system, etc.) to determine these three to be the most viable of a group of 10 or more embryos produced.

All accredited biologists in the world (and the Pope) agree that, when uninterrupted, a fertilized egg results in the continuous growth of a genetically unique human organism from the moment of conception through embryo, fetus, birth and beyond–indeed, this is how each of us is here today reading this post! 🙂 Consequently, it is morally problematic that the natural development of the lives of seven or more genetically unique human organisms was interrupted. Your parents likely did not know about these lost embryos, and the IVF lab workers likely regarded them as morally insignificant.

There would be a public outcry if parents had laboratory technicians evaulate ten cute little babies, freeze or discard seven, and hand those three “most likely to succeed” back to the parents; no such outcry occurs when essentially the same thing happens out of the public view (in a microscope).

There are cases in war where the deaths of seven or more innocent people are a precondition for three to have a chance at living full, natural lives; the Nazi death camps offer such examples (recall the story of St. Maximillian Colbe). In terms of human life, the IVF equation is no different: in the standard IVF process, the sacrifice of human life is a precondition for the survival and normal development of other human life*.

*(i.e. living human organisms at a stage of development through which each of our bodies (“each of us”) passed without interruption)
 
IzzyD said:
My mum and dad had ivf so they could have me and my twin brother (using my dads sperm and a donor egg). I have been told that I am unnatural, that I have no soul, that God doesn’t love me because I was created against His will. I’d like to make it clear that only three eggs were fertilised and all were used although one did fail to attach itself to the uterus wall which often happens when an egg is fertilised naturally anyway. So no embryos were killed in the process. Does this somehow make me a bad person? It wasn’t my fault I was created using ivf and I’d hate to think God rejects me as His child because of this.
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The sin was your parents and not yours. Don’t worry.

IVF is bad.

See the official Church document Dignitas Personae. Link below:

vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20081208_dignitas-personae_en.html
 
IzzyD said:
My mum and dad had ivf so they could have me and my twin brother (using my dads sperm and a donor egg). I have been told that I am unnatural, that I have no soul, that God doesn’t love me because I was created against His will. I’d like to make it clear that only three eggs were fertilised and all were used although one did fail to attach itself to the uterus wall which often happens when an egg is fertilised naturally anyway. So no embryos were killed in the process. Does this somehow make me a bad person? It wasn’t my fault I was created using ivf and I’d hate to think God rejects me as His child because of this.
Click to expand...
The sin was your parents and not yours. Don’t worry.

IVF is bad.

See the official Church document Dignitas Personae. Link below:

vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20081208_dignitas-personae_en.html
 
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