MyCatholicSource.com - 'Quick Help' Page: Recent Promotion Of IVF / What To Say To IVF Supporters?

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The recent promotion of IVF by some government leaders is very unfortunate and a concern to many faithful Catholics. I would first note that many who support/endorse IVF today may be unaware of all the facts surrounding this issue. I presume most of them have good intentions. At first glance, IVF may seem to them to be a life-affirming option. Many perhaps know of a child who exists because of IVF. They might recognize that certain people would perhaps be childless without IVF.

Yet, those truths aside...

* the end does NOT justify the means (try here for more on this topic)

* the fact is that IVF is NOT pro life, and in actuality, it causes more death than even abortion does each year (see user-submitted article "IVF Is NOT Pro-Life! / IVF Is Gravely Sinful" here)

* engaging in sin cannot be pleasing to God, even if God allows some benefit to occasionally flow to sinners from their sin

* even if someone receives a benefit from sinning, that doesn't mean sinning is acceptable or should be done or promoted (for example, consider bank robbery)

* for every IVF child that is born, many others were probably killed

* IVF is an unnatural procedure that may subject both woman and child to risks

* IVF fails to address root causes of infertility

In my experience, persons joyful that a particular baby is born due to IVF aren't much open to discussion about the problems with IVF. Instead, they...

* might somehow think, almost miraculously, that no others were destroyed in that particular case

* may not know about or care about the other destroyed (unbaptized!) lives in favor of the one that was born

* may not be able to think logically past the 'well-it-worked' stage

* may refuse to consider the actions involved to be sinful

* don't seem too concerned about possible health consequences for 'manufactured babies' or how those children might later feel about their siblings being killed in order that they might live

Sadly, it may be difficult for some people to see any evils of IVF or to bring them to repentance for participating in it with mere human efforts. Yet repentance is necessary for forgiveness. Of course, if appropriate, one might try to convince IVF involved people with reasoned arguments & facts – such as explaining why the Church condemns IVF, but the likelihood of quick success, IMHO, may be fairly low given the nature of the matter. Perhaps it may be useful to focus on educating the political class, the media, disinterested parties, etc. on the evils of IVF. Demand that your tax dollars not be used to support IVF. Tell medical insurance companies you don't want their policies to cover IVF. Seek that IVF be prohibited by law.

Also, asking good priests to regularly give sermons exposing the evils of IVF may bear fruit. Perhaps they may quote Pope John Paul II...

"The various techniques of artificial reproduction, which would seem to be at the service of life and which are frequently used with this intention, actually open the door to new threats against life. Apart from the fact that they are morally unacceptable, since they separate procreation from the fully human context of the conjugal act, these techniques have a high rate of failure: not just failure in relation to fertilization but with regard to the subsequent development of the embryo, which is exposed to the risk of death, generally within a very short space of time. Furthermore, the number of embryos produced is often greater than that needed for implantation in the woman's womb, and these so-called 'spare embryos' are then destroyed or used for research which, under the pretext of scientific or medical progress, in fact reduces human life to the level of simple 'biological material' to be freely disposed of."

Hopefully there will soon be a cultural shift away from the evil of IVF and more open discussions of the problems associated with it. To that end, it may help to use accurate terminology (e.g. 'manufactured' life) and to learn about the many issues with IVF (for example, consider the user article here). Certain statistics should also be readily at hand. For example, consider this quote from a pro-life website (paragraphs combined below)...

"The IVF industry cannot survive without the killing of embryos. More to the point: the IVF industry cannot survive with out the killing of 93 percent of children the process creates. From the perspective of 10 out of 11 children created via IVF, IVF is murder." (LifeSiteNews)

And, of course, we should pray for a change of heart for IVF supporters, remembering that nothing is impossible with God

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