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Workshop Presents Church Teachings on In Vitro Fertilization
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August 29, 2024Dr. Christopher Ragusa, professor of bioethics and moral theology at Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady University, presented a workshop about the Catholic Church’s teachings on In Vitro fertilization (IVF), which are based on “seeking the truth in love” and “love in the truth.”The Office of Life, Peace and Justice of the Diocese of Baton Rouge sponsored the Aug. 8 event, which was held at the Catholic Life Center.Ragusa looked at IVF from the perspective of church teachings, theology, bioethics, and morality. The objective was to discuss whether IVF is a medical means for married couples to conceive a child that respects the couples themselves and the conceived child.Referring to Church doctrine and Scriptures, Ragusa emphasized that dignity of human life must be at the center of ethical reflection on biomedical research (Dignitas Personae).Quoting from the document Donum Vitae, Ragusa said, “Human life is sacred because from its beginning it involves ‘the creative action of God' and it remains forever in a special relationship with the Creator, who is its sole end.”Ragusa gave a “quick primer” on natural law and morality.He noted in the Book of Genesis God said seven times, “It is good,” when he created the cosmos and, “It is very good,” when he created man. God rested on the seventh day, representing completion.Just as God speaks ten times when creating the cosmos, Moses receives from God the “Decalogue” or “ten words” which are the Ten Commandments.“For the Hebrews, the law is one of freedom and goodness … the internal harmony of morality is meant to mirror or parallel the external harmony or goodness of reality in as far as it exists,” Dr. Ragusa said.The church’s teachings on natural law, Ragusa said, are influenced by the church fathers and theologians such as St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas. St. Augustine said, “An unjust law is no law at all” and St. Thomas Aquinas said, “The natural law is nothing other than a rational creature’s participation of the eternal law of God.” St. Paul wrote, “The law is written in our hearts.”The teachings indicate that every human being has an innate sense of right and wrong to the specific natural laws of God, Ragusa emphasized.The church’s natural law on sexuality defends the goodness and meaningfulness of the body, Ragusa pointed out. The two-fold aspect of sex is unity and procreation.Like the covenant instituted by Christ, in a covenant marriage the couple promises a total self-gift.Ragusa then transitioned to the church’s teachings on IFV.“At times it’s called a ‘selective reduction’ – it’s a selective abortion." – Dr. Christopher RagusaAs a rule of thumb, Ragusa said, “Any treatment which either facilitates the natural act of marital intercourse or assists in reaching its procreative potential is moral. Procedures which add a ‘third party’ into the acts of conception, or which substitute a procedure for marital intercourse, are not acceptable.”In contrast to a child being conceived through the natural conjugal act specific to spouses and its two ends of union and procreation, In Vitro, which translated from Latin means “In glass” depersonalizes the generation of a child into a technical process in a laboratory.This does not mean, as is commonly misinterpreted, the Catholic Church rejects a child conceived through IFV, according to Ragusa. It welcomes all children.There are many ethical dilemmas as well. During IFV, which is very costly, prior to the embryos being implanted into the woman, the embryos undergo genetic testing to judge which ones are “best” to rule out those with diseases, such as Down’s syndrome. There are also tests that allow couples to select embryos based on sex, eye and hair color, etc.“Usually at least two embryos are implanted into the woman’s uterus with a flexible catheter, and in some centers as many as many as four are implanted with the hope of carrying at least one baby to full term,” said Ragusa.IFV fails to address the underlying causes of infertility, but plants multiple embryos into a woman in the hope of producing a baby, according to Ragusa. The resulting pregnancies are high risk.Ragusa said he sat in on a hospital ethics board meeting out-of-state when with “great joy” a doctor announced that a woman on whom they performed an IFV procedure was pregnant with three embryos. The doctor added, “We did a selective reduction and now she’s having twins.”“At times it’s called a ‘selective reduction’ – it’s a selective abortion,” stated Ragusa.Sometimes couples choose to freeze embryos if they want to become pregnant later. Ten to 20 percent of embryos do not survive the freezing and thawing process, according to Ragusa.Embryos are treated as commodities as the couple may choose to donate them to other women or research or have them destroyed.“The last option is illegal in Louisiana. The embryos are considered persons so they can’t be intentionally destroyed,” announced Ragusa. “As far as I know, just about every IVF clinic in the state stores the cryopreserved embryos out-of-state to get around this.”The moral, theological, and biological factors combined make IFV unacceptable, noted Ragusa. He then looked at steps couples can take to be true to the "fundamental yes” to creation. This includes surgery, hormone supplements, charting, natural family planning and NaPro technology, foster care, and adoption.Additionally, people must witness to married couples struggling with infertility about the purpose of marriage and universal call to holiness.Parishes should support those couples, especially during Father’s and Mother’s Day.People can also contact their local and national representatives to pass laws that limit the number of embryos created and that can be implanted at one time, promote legal protection of human embryos by eliminating experimentation, opposing surrogacy and encourage it to be illegal, eliminate abortion and “selective reduction” as well as “pre-implantation genetic testing” and “sex selection” and promote access to other reproductive technology and fertility treatments.Ragusa said the church’s teachings may seem hard to follow, but it sets them forth in truth and love. The church supports the desire of couples to conceive a child, but in the case of IFV, the “ends do not justify the means.”“Everyone is called to be a saint. This does not mean that there is no suffering or there will be no crosses; rather the promise is that our suffering is not meaningless and that the cross can be overcome through Christ’s drawing close to us in our very humanity,” said Ragusa.SOME HELPFUL WEBSITES – ON IVF
· United States Conference of Catholic Bishops: usccb.org
· Louisiana Conference of Catholic Bishops: laccb.org
· National Catholic Bioethics Center (NCBC): ncbcenter.org
ncbcenter.org/seeking-the-moral-path-video-lectures-by-fr-tad
NCBC also offers free personal real life decisions ethics consultations: ncbcenter.org/consultation-form.
· Shiloh – a post IVF Ministry: shilohivf.com
· Springs in the Desert – accompanies those struggling with infertility by offering a place of respite and solidarity: springsinthedesert.org
