The Latest from the Vatican (Updated with my favorite commercial)

I saw this article last night on the Daily Mail website:

"The Pope today urged infertile couples to shun IVF and insisted that sex between a husband and wife was the only acceptable way of conceiving.
Pope Benedict XVI said artificial methods of getting pregnant were simply 'arrogance' as he spoke at the end of a three-day Vatican conference on infertility in Rome.
He told scientists and fertility experts that matrimony was the 'only place worthy of the call to existence of a new human being'.
The Pope reiterated the Church's stance against artificial procreation, telling infertile couples they should refrain from trying to conceive through any method other than conjugal relations.
'The human and Christian dignity of procreation, in fact, doesn't consist in a "product", but in its link to the conjugal act, an expression of the love of the spouses of their union, not only biological but also spiritual,' Benedict said.

He told the specialists in his audience to resist 'the fascination of the technology of artificial fertility', warning against 'easy income, or even worse, the arrogance of taking the place of the Creator'.

 He suggested that this was the attitude that underlies the field of artificial procreation.

Sperm or egg donation and methods such as in vitro fertilization are banned for members of the Catholic church.
The emphasis on science and 'the logic of profit seem today to dominate the field of infertility and human procreation', the Pope said.
But he added that the Church encourages medical research into infertility."

I should back up and let you know that I was raised Catholic and went to Catholic school from 3rd through 12th grade.  There are many great things about the Catholic church. They have a tradition that spans with a direct link to Jesus himself.  They lead the fight for rights of the unborn. Finally, most Catholics I know disagree with the above statement and other issues such as banning the use of birth control.


Here are my objections to the above:
a) Some people CANNOT medically conceive children without the use of IVF.  I currently fall into this category as far as we know.

b) My children were created with the same love and spirituality as other conceptions. People who have conceived via IVF want children so badly that they spend thousands of dollars, and endure physical and emotional pain to finally achieve their goal. That is a bit more than a moment of passion between a married couple. Definitely more than a one night stand that results in an unwanted pregnancy.

c) We did not consider ourselves, our doctor, or the embryologists as God. Even with chromosomally normal embryos and a good uterus, pregnancy rates are about 65-70%. No clinic has a 100% pregnancy rate.

d) We did not create extra, unwanted embryos that were going to be destroyed or donated for scientific research. If we ended up with 10 eggs (ha! right), we would have vitrified eggs and only created embryos if we kept failing.

e) Doctors can be motivated by profit. I wanted to go to a clinic that has a top notch lab, excellent medical staff, and the latest technology. These people are paid high salaries because they have skills that most other people do not possess. Should my doctor earn a profit for his hard work? Absolutely. Profit encourages research. Do any of us want to work for free? Should any of us be forced to work for free? I don't think so. I'm guessing my wonderful doctor worked his butt off for years and helped many before me to get where he is. If a physician makes $500,000.00 a year, does that mean he can give more to charitable organizations? Yes. If that physician tithes according to biblical standards, that equates to $50,000.00 for his church.

d) As for sperm donation, egg donation and surrogacy, I am not judging people who resort to it because we were blessed enough not to be forced into that kind of decision. These options don't seem so far-fetched when the reality of not being able to create biological children BECOMES REALITY to you.  As a Catholic priest, I don't think he has ever been forced to deal with this horrible reality.

e) This was not specifically addressed in the article, but adoption is never an "easy" alternative. It is a wonderful avenue and I support it 100 million percent. BUT when you start learning about how expensive, heart wrenching and complicated it is, you see why IVF is such a blessing to our modern society. So many people with biological children scoff and ask why you don't just adopt. They do not understand. I have asked people to compare their failed IVF experiences versus adoption and adoption always trumps as being more heart wrenching simply because of the uncertainty during the statutory waiting period, mourning the loss of their own biological children, guilt over taking the child away from the birth mother, and the expenditure of $25,000+ dollars.  The result is beautiful, but the process is far from easy.


The experience of infertility is one of the hardest, most humbling experiences I have gone through. My beautiful children are here because of IVF. What was arrogant and unloving about how our children were brought into the world?


I had to update this entry with my most favorite commercial ever. I think it is quite appropriate: