Just Living. In Vitro Fertilization. The Truth about Freedom; engaging faith and reason

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1 Just Living Striving for Truth and Justice in a Culture of Death Fall, 2014 In Vitro Fertilization The Truth about Freedom; engaging faith and reason In an age of moral relativism, when Absolute Truth and Natural Law is rejected and denied, reasonable thought and civil discourse can seem impossible but it is the duty of all members of the Church to take up the call to spread the Good News of Christ, His Church and His everlasting Truths. This pamphlet has been designed to help the members of your parish community to begin a serious study and discussion of many of the most important life issues of our modern day society. It will offer an objective definition of several beginningof-life and end-of-life issues. It will attempt to offer a number of reasons why, some in society see these issues as acceptable, or in some cases, good. It will offer web-sites for further review of these ideas. Conversely, this pamphlet will offer the Church s teaching regarding these same issues. Quoting from Scripture and Magisterial sources, this pamphlet will assist the faithful in understanding the fundamental reasons that the Church is in opposition to these modern day practices. Where practical, the pamphlet will also offer voices outside the Church, which also decry, as evil, practices which have come to be the defining behaviors of what Saint Pope John Paul II termed the Culture of Death. This resource will offer web sites for the faithful to use in researching and deepening their own understanding of these issues. We hope you will find it both useful as a tool of understanding as well as an inspiring prompt to Go forth and preach the gospel with your lives. You shall be like God Genesis 3:5 The Culture of Death, and its underlying philosophy of moral relativism, has its origins in the Garden of Eden. When the serpent stirred up fear and caused trust in his Creator to die in the heart of man [CCC, 397] the allure to believe that he could create for himself what was true gave birth to the modern philosophy of subjective reality. Man has come to believe that what is real, and good and true is whatever he desires and believes it to be. Truth is no longer an objective reality, but rather, a matter of feelings and opinion. We will provide evidence of this sad new state of intellectualism in this pamphlet.

2 Artificial Means of Conception Artificial means of Conception The ability to create a new human life artificially, using means such as in vitro fertilization, artificial insemination, or surrogate parenting. In Vitro Fertilization is the process of fertilization by manually combining an egg and sperm in a laboratory dish, and then transferring the embryo to the uterus. Artificial Insemination is a technique that artificially implants sperm in a women s womb. Surrogate parenting is placing a fertilized ovum from one woman in another woman s womb and letting the baby grow inside her. Risks Involved Parents have been noted to have high stressed levels, and depression issues. The mother experiences abdominal pain, bloating, headaches, a building up of fluids in the stomach and chest, nausea, and vomiting. Church s Teachings The church believes that children are the result of a sexual union between a husband and wife. This means that through the love they have for each other God allows them to be apart of His creation process to bring about a child. This was intended to be a natural process brought about by the loving union, and that is why artificial conception is wrong. By participating in this way of conceiving, the couple is not respecting the sexual dignity that God gave them. The point of sex is to unite the couple and to bring about children. By creating a baby in a laboratory, the couple is not uniting with each other, nor are they creating children in the way God intended. What Options Do You Have? Adoption Catholic Charities urservices/adoption/ Foster Parenting Catholic Charities iccharities.org/serv ices/servicesprograms-fostercare Big Brother or Big Sister Volunteer at a Youth Organization YMCA or Boys and Girls Club of America Enjoy being an Aunt or Uncle Sponsoring a kid from another country m/sponsor_a_child/ 2

3 What does the Catechism Say? 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 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." 2377 "One horrific result of artificial procreation is the very high percentage of artificially procreated embryos who are directly killed, or who indirectly die, during the entire process of artificial reproductive technology (or ART, as it is called) The magisterium of the Church has proclaimed the scared and inviolable character of every human life from conception to natural death. Pope Benedict 16th Creating a child in this way is killing other babies by destroying embryos through the process What They Say and How We Respond Sally I don t want anyone telling me what right I have with my body and my possibility to conceive. It s my body, so it s my choice. Heather It isn t just about you and your rights, because by conceiving a child this way, you are not upholding the dignity of any party involved. Sally It s not fair that I cannot carry my own baby, and since the technology is out there, who is able to say I cannot use it? Heather There are so many babies that need to be adopted. In the U.S. 397,122 children are living without permanent homes. There are 18 million children living in orphanages or on the streets around the world. Sally Well I want my baby to look like me. Heather Wanting a baby that looks like you causes society to begin to look at babies as a product and not as human life. Engineering a baby to look the way you want it can cause psychological issues for the child and society because there would be more emphasis on looks and perfection than on the fact that life is a gift from God.

4 In Vitro Fertilization November, 2014 In vitro fertilization is a process used to treat infertility among couples. This process dates way back to the mid-19th century when scientists were experimenting on rabbits in the laboratory to see if it was possible to develop an embryo outside of the body. After discovering that it was not only possible but also successful among the rabbits, scientist Walter Heape named the process, in vitro fertilization, or in glass fertilization. The first successful test tube baby was born on July 25, This was a huge breakthrough in the biological field, and opened the eyes of many. Throughout the many years, there have been multiple important developments and improvements in the in vitro fertilization procedure. Today, there are much higher success rates than what scientists expected, and improvements are still taking place in order to increase the likelihood of a successful birth. There are many steps in this process that require a great amount of meticulous action from scientists carrying out the process. In the first step of in vitro fertilization, the female is given a fertility medication in order to stimulate the production of eggs in the body so that there is a greater chance that one of the eggs is fertilized and produces a successful embryo. When there is a sufficient amount of eggs for the scientists to take, the female undergoes a surgery in which scientists use ultrasound imaging to guide a needle through the pelvic cavity of the woman in order to extract the eggs. After the eggs are successfully taken, the male is asked to produced a sperm sample for the fertilization of the extracted eggs. Eggs and sperm are then combined in a process called insemination and stored in a laboratory to encourage fertilization of the eggs. If fertilization is predicted to be unsuccessful, scientists perform a process called intercytoplasmic sperm injection, in which a single sperm is injected directly into the egg to in order to further increase the likelihood of fertilization. The eggs are then monitored until cell division begins, and then they are considered embryos. The embryos are placed into the uterus of the female through the utilization of a catheter. If the process is a success then the embryos attach to the lining of the uterus and begin to receive nutrients and other minerals necessary for the development of a fetus. In Vitro fertilization allows couples to have biological children who may not have been able to do so. Homosexual couples can have children that are partly biologically their own, and single people can have children by themselves with the help of a donor or a surrogate. Couples that suffer from infertility find that IVF can drastically increase their odds of having a child. For example, men that have low sperm counts can turn to IVF so that the few sperm they have can be utilized. In addition, couples who are advanced in age can use IVF to have children they may not have otherwise had. The embryos that do not implant can be used for research that can help prevent birth defects, diseases and other cell research. The babies that are born as a result of IVF are also humans, so it is only right to protect their human dignity. The creation of human life is one of the major goals of all people on the earth, and IVF helps people to live out this procreative mission in their lives. IVF has led to the birth of over 200,000 babies across the globe.

5 IVF has led to the birth of over 200,000 babies across the globe. To learn more about IVF, the success rates, and how it works, visit The death culture presents a compelling argument for In Vitro Fertilization, with noble goals, the ability to give children to those who cannot have them naturally, but in the process of achieving this end, IVF disrespects and destroys countless living babies made in the image of God, and undermines God s intention for marriage. The Catholic Church teaches that, Marriage does not confer upon the spouses the right to have a child, but only the right to perform those natural acts which are per se ordered to procreation. CCC. By acting as if couples have a right to have children, rather than considering children a privilege and great gift from God, we declare ourselves the authors of life, and begin to think of babies as a commodity to be bought and sold. Thinking of babies as commodities that we are entitled to makes it very easy to disregard their humanity and their dignity, which in fact is equal to our own, and opens the door to such practices as abortion, or more applicably, disposing of unwanted embryos in the IVF process. The practice of creating babies in test tubes and labs, is not only offensive to the dignity of the Vivamus porta est sed est. Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations. - Jeremiah 1:5 children being created by treating them like commodities, but also by denying them creation in a selfless act of love between two parents which also offends the dignity of the human person, and, establishes the domination of technology over the origin and destiny of the human person. CCC. Another advantage to IVF is that it allows unmarried people to have children by themselves, and homosexual couples to have children that are partially their own. However the Catholic Church teaches that the act of sex is meant to be both unitive and procreative between a man and a woman who love each other enough to give themselves to one another in a totally selfless act. Unfortunately this aspect of reproduction is lost during treatments like IVF. In both cases of homosezual couples and of single people, the unitive aspect of reproduction isn't possible. The success rate of IVF ranges from 40% to 4% depending on the age of the woman, meaning that the rest of the embryos either don't implant and die, or are miscarried. However, only some of the embryos created are placed in the woman s uterus in the first place. The rest are frozen to be used later by the woman or to be used for scientific research. The price on a baby in the United States is currently about $12,400 per cycle. Many, if not most couples go through several cycles of IVF before they achieve pregnancy. Additionally, because there are multiple embryos placed in a woman at once, to see which will implant, if multiple implant couple often decide to use selective reduction to decide which embryo is most genetically favorable out of the children they have created. Then, to dispose of the unfit embryos, an abortion is performed. Many people defend IVF for the unwanted embryos it produces which are used for scientific research. Catholics believe that all of these practices offend the human dignity of children, by treating them as a commodity, using living people for scientific research, and selecting one child out of several to choose to carry to term. The ends don't justify the means in a Catholics mind as far as the life lost, there are too many children that have to die or are killed for every one successful birth. God created each of us as a unique human being in his image, he says of every child, Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations. - Jeremiah 1:5. Rather than taking the creation of life into our own hands, we should trust our creator and respect his position as the author of life. 2 lorem ipsum :: [Date]