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RS Childlessness

The document discusses challenges faced by infertile couples, Catholic views on artificial reproductive technologies, and non-Catholic Christian views. It addresses issues like IVF, surrogacy, and donor conception. Both advantages and disadvantages of these technologies are mentioned.

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25 views7 pages

RS Childlessness

The document discusses challenges faced by infertile couples, Catholic views on artificial reproductive technologies, and non-Catholic Christian views. It addresses issues like IVF, surrogacy, and donor conception. Both advantages and disadvantages of these technologies are mentioned.

Uploaded by

onlooker.eternity
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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RS_childlessness

Challenges of infertile couples


● the shame and anguish associated with being infertile

● The financial burden of getting fertility treatment

● The stress and anxiety in


1. coming to terms with how each party deals with fertility issues
2. Handling the in-law (if they are anxious for a grandchild)
3. Repeated failures
4. Having different expectations of your ‘dream family’

● jealousy or resentment toward friends who can conceive


Catholics think that…
● foster/adoptive families open their hearts to children in need, and share their family life
with them
● Foster care is often used to provide temporary care while parents get help sorting out
problems, or to help children or young people through a difficult period in their lives
● Often children will return home once the problems that causes t???????????
Fertility treatments
● in-vitro fertilisation
● Artificially insemination by husband
● Artificially insemination by donor
● Egg donation
● Embryo donation
● Surrogacy

In vitro fertilisation (IVF)


– in-vitro=in glass (fertilisation in a Petri dish or cell culture dish [not test tube])
– The ovum is fertilised outside the woman’s body

Catholic attitude towards artificial reproduce technology


● catholic disagree with IVF
-> techniques of artificial reproduction that bypass the union in the flesh (unitive purpose)
encourage the view that the child is a man-made product
-> This is specially obvious when the embryo comes into being outside the human body
-> Then the process of conception becomes the result of laboratory procedures
-> children must not be treated as human products or possessions follows from the
understanding of the child as a gift from God, being made in the image of God, received in
human co-creation (trying to take the place of God)

Problems with IVF


● spare embryos are created during IVF
– some are discarded
– Some are frozen for future use or experimentation )medical research)
● Life begins at conception
– the intentional wastage or destruction of embryonic life cannot be justified (against the
principle of sanctity of life)
– It deserves to be respected and protected

Genetic engineering
– changing the basic structure of human life by medical

Problem:
● genetic screening could lead to society choosing desirable traits
– commodification of human life
– Reduce the child from a life with its own intrinsic worth to an object of desire

Artificial insemination by husband


– techniques involving only the married couple 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 2 persons give
themselves to one another, but one that ‘entrusts the life and identity of the embryo into
the power of doctors and biologists’

Artificial insemination by donor


– sperm donor are screened for a number of diseases, including AIDS and hepatitis B
– In order to match donor and recipients, a number of physical characteristics of the donor,
such as skin colour, eye colour blood group, hair colour and body build will also be
recorded
– Donors are paid, so the child itself and the donor’s sperm are treated as commodities
-> an insult to the human dignity of the child
The use of third party genetic material violates the sanctity of the marriage convening

● commodification of human life


● An object of transaction

Surrogacy
– Latin - to put in another place/to substitute
– Supported by a legal agreement

● the Catholic Church rules out surrogacy


– often it involves artificial insemination by the male party of the commissioning couple/
intend couple
– The child carried by the surrogate is her own genetic child, then the surrogate fails to
assure her parental responsibility and stewardship when she hands ver the child to the
commissioning couple

– Alternatively, it may involve embryo transfer to the surrogate mother using the
commissioning couples embryo yo
– The same is true in the case of embryo transfer inasmuch as the surrogate, as gestational
mother , it a biological mother of the child even if she is not it’s genetic

● surrogacy is an insult both to the surrogate and to the child


– it is an insult to the child as our equal and neighbour in the image of God inasmuch as it is
treated as an object of barter
– It is an insult to the surrogate because she is treated as not much more than a hired
prenatal incubator
– All are insults to human dignity, since it reread treating human beings and body-parts as
marketable commodities (a means to achieve something else)
– It is wrong to bypass the sexual act of the married couples. The child must be the product
of the couples

Non-catholic Christian attitudes towards artificial fertility treatments


● more accepting in general
● Artificial insemination of hugs and is one form of fertility treatment that many Christian’s
find the can support, particularly when the couple are married the Church of England sees
each as affirming family life and providing opportunities
● it is common for more than one embryo to be produced by IVF, and for some to be left
over. Embryos can be frozen for use at a later date by the couple
● A couple may give their consent for the spare embryos to be used for research or be
destroyed within 14 days
● The Church of England and the Methodist church supports this view
● compassion
– the use of donor egg or sperm is considered acceptable by some Christian’s, whether the
on or is anonymous or known to the couple. Donation is a compassionate act to help a
fellow human being. They may also agree that a surrogate mother might be used to carry
the child, as long as this is not done for money

● medical skill
– Christian’s may regard the skills and knowledge of scientists as God-given, and intended
to be used to relieve suffering and encourage a better quality of life

Advantages of artificial reproductive technology


● confirmation of fertilisation
– to help bypass problems with a woman’s fallopian tubes
● enabling any embryos that are created, to be tested for some abnormalities before they
are transferred into the uterus (womb)
● A successful pregnancy and a healthy body
● A way to relieving the suffering of childless couples
● It can help single women and same-sex couples to become parents
● Unused embryos can be donated to research or another couple

Disadvantages of artificial reproductive technology


● success is not guaranteed
● An expensive medical procedure
● Involves an operative procedure (health risks)
● Risk of multiple pregnancy
● Social ethical and legal issues

Counter-argument (by the catholics)


– technologically possible not equal to morally acceptable

– a child is not something owned to one, but is a gift. The ‘supreme gift of a 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 possess genuine right: the
right ‘to be the fruit of the specific act of the conjugal lobe of his parents’ and ‘the right to
the respected as a person from the moment of his conception’

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