Assisted Human Reproduction and Moral Issues

The practice of assisted human reproduction, or assisted reproductive technology (ART), began more than 25 years ago. The creation of embryos outside the uterus and questions about what to do with these embryos has triggered countless debates on moral and religious grounds. The central question this infertility treatment raises is, Should everyone who wants to build their family have the right to do anything medically possible to become parents?

Definition

• ART offers childless couples the hope of becoming parents through medical intervention.

  Assisted human reproduction is a term that describes medical procedures used to help people who are unable to conceive a child on their own. A combination of medications and surgeries are used to help improve the chances of pregnancy. ART techniques remove a woman's eggs from her ovaries, combine them with sperm in a laboratory, and then place them back in the woman's body --- or they are donated to another woman. Sperm can also be donated with ART.

Religion

• The Catholic Church is against infertility treatment and medical intervention with embryos.

  The Catholic Church morally opposes infertility treatment. Its position is a child is created the second the sperm fertilizes the egg. John B. Shea, MD, writes about Catholic doctrine. He explains the "Church teaches from the moral point of view a truly responsible procreation, vis-a-vis the unborn child, must be the fruit of marriage." He adds that the church "condemns as gravely evil acts, IVF both in and of itself, and stem cell research performed on IVF embryos."

Embryo Ethics

• The moral dilemma relating to embryos connects to beliefs about when human life begins.

  "The New England Journal of Medicine" describes opposing moral perspectives regarding how to define embryos. Freezing, discarding or stem cell research using embryos are considered immoral acts for people who regard embryos as human beings. People who believe humanity begins at conception "regard embryos as possessing the same inviolability as fully developed human beings." The alternative viewpoint is "the fact that every person began life as an embryo does not prove that embryos are persons," the journal making the comparison that even though every oak tree began as an acorn does not mean every acorn is an oak tree.

Family Building

• Infertility advocates say parenting is a right and treatment choice is a private decision.

  Infertility advocacy groups say infertility is a disease and should be treated as any other medical problem without government regulations or moral judgements. They believe people have the right to choose to become parents using whatever means that works. Pamela Madsen, executive director of the American Fertility Association, represents the viewpoint of people who desperately want to create a family. "We want medical and therapeutic decisions to become a private matter between patient and doctor," she says.

Considerations

• Each individual must explore her own beliefs regarding moral issues associated with ART.

  People do fundamentally disagree in their beliefs regarding the morality of assisted human reproductive therapy. The passion to create a family is strong and is a cornerstone of human society like people's religious beliefs. They both are an integral part of who humans are. It does not seem reasonable to expect agreement and bridging the gap imposed by these opposing philosophies. It ultimately lies with each individual to understand these complex moral questions and come to terms with a perspective that is compatible with their own personal values.