On an internet discussion board, several (Christian and non-Christian) have been interacting on the question of whether IVF is, according to Christianity, a sin. Without going into tremendous detail here, IVF (In Vitro Fertilization) is an artificial reproductive technology (ART) used to fertilize a woman’s egg outside of her body and implant it into her uterus later. The process may move as quickly as having one egg fertilized and immediately implanted, or the process may be longer where several eggs are fertilized and 2-3 are implanted and several embryos stored for use another time. And then there are variations in between as well as some extreme circumstances like the so-called Octomom story of 2009. Some couples choose to have the embryos screened for genetic defects or gender, never implanting the “bad” ones. Others will freeze and store dozens of eggs, not knowing exactly what will become of them in the future. Some of the debate over embryonic stem cell research stems from the existence of hundreds of thousands of embryos that are currently in storage, many of which will never be claimed by their parents. Yes, I said parents.
So below is the discussion which caught my attention:
I don’t know that IVF is a sin. I have issues with it, but they are only my opinion, and I have no Biblical reference for it or any other reference. Some of my issues include fertilization of numerous embryos: what do they do with the ones they don’t implant? If they implant several embryos, what happens if they all implant? I know several people who were offered selective abortion, which I believe is wrong. And when it comes to choosing gender, I just think that is way wrong. However, I would not presume to judge you for undergoing IVF. It is ultimately your choice. If you have prayed about it and strongly feel it is the right thing to do, then go for it.
It’s a good thing we don’t make all of our decisions according to the few final words in this emotional recommendation. She believes there is something wrong with the use of IVF if it involves the creation of unused embryos, the destruction of embryos, or sex-selection. Her concern is rooted in the concept of human dignity, that life is precious and worthy of respect at every stage. Sadly, she does not explain that the embryo is a human at its earliest stage and destroying a tiny human person is to kill that person. If we think something is wrong, we ought to be able to say why, but perhaps she was driven by the higher moral principle to not judge. That one she claims without hesitation and it appears to be at the top of her moral hierarchy. Is this the kind of advice we should be giving for any questionable situation? “Pray about it and if it feels right….” ? Perhaps “continue to seek wisdom and knowledge from others AND continue to pray” is the better course.
So the question is, is IVF a sin? Let’s rephrase it. Is killing another person a sin? If the technology involves the destruction of human embryos, we are in safe, though sad, territory identifying the act with an act of sin.
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The admonition not to judge others is often horribly misunderstood by Christians. What we are not to judge, is the interior state of a person’s soul. But what we most definitely can–and should–judge, are the external actions of other people, actions which are clearly evident to any observer.
When we punish someone for murder, we are judging their actions. When we give a police officer the authority to arrest someone driving while under the influence of alcohol, we are judging others’ actions. When a teacher gives a student an F because the student was caught cheating, the teacher is judging the student’s actions. We do this all the time. The entire criminal legal system would have to be dismantled, according to this mistaken view, if we could never judge the external actions of others. Of course we judge people for their actions–their behavior with respect to the people and the world around them. Justice requires this. But even though we do, we cannot know, and thus cannot judge, the interior state of that person’s soul.
If, indeed, an IVF procedure involves the killing of innocent human life, no matter how young, then that action is always wrong. It is a violation of the divine command not to kill innocent human beings.
When we pray, we have to realize that there is a hierarchy of sources for knowing right and wrong according to God. Violations of the Ten Commandments are always wrong. They came from God and apply to every person in all times and places. If we try to convince ourselves that there is a way to “pray” and–through our prayer–conclude that we may make exceptions for ourselves regarding one of the Ten Commandments, we are not truly praying. We are being fools. No answer to prayer, if it truly came from God, would ever contradict the eternally valid divine commandments. This is because God does not contradict Himself. If we pretend that our prayer has lead us to find a loophole for ourselves regarding God’s commandments, we are fooling ourselves, and in fact, placing ourselves above God. Or, at the very least, are putting our fallible emotions on a level higher than the commandments of God as a source to know right from wrong.
Regarding the biggies–like thou shall not kill–God does not need to give specific answers to specific prayers about such fundamentals. He already gave us clear answers. They are written both on our hearts, and, in Divine Revelation in the Bible. A faithful Christian has no need to pray about a moral issue whose character clearly falls in the category of something prohibited by the Commandments. “Thou shall not kill,” itself, is very simple and clear. The only realm for confusion might be in the question, “what am I killing?” If the answer is, “a human being,” then we cannot do it. No exceptions. Very clear. If we conclude otherwise, we don’t really respect God, and claiming that our “prayer” has lead us, in effect, to ignore a Commandment of God, is really nothing more than a rationalization process to try to give ourselves permission to sin by trying to remove ourselves from guilt.
So, clearly, any IVF procedure that deliberately kills a human being is sinful and should never be supported by any Christian, or any person of good conscience, for that matter.
But, suppose that IVF (and the technology is moving in this direction) could be done without killing any embryos? What then?
Very briefly, according to the teaching of Catholicism (I am Catholic), IVF is always an evil act, regardless of whether a human being is killed. Why? For a number of reasons, all of which I can’t give now. But one of these has to do with the God-ordained integrity of the family, and especially, of the rights of the child. Every newly conceived human being has a right (from God) to have come into existence only through a human act of loving bodily union between his mother and father. In other words, every child has a right NOT to be the product of a mere technical lab process performed by a third person in a laboratory. In a real sense, this third person–the lab tech–is also a parent of the child, because the lab tech actually is the one who brings sperm and egg together. But, God’s plan for human life, so Catholicism teaches, is such that only the dignity of a loving sexual union between husband and wife is the proper context for something so great as the creation of new human life. Petri dishes and third parties will not do for the creation of a new, unrepeatable human life.
As a Catholic, I am grateful for people who can explain the teachings of our faith so well. Unfortunately, our society *tells* people if the technology is there, why not use it and it’s an accepted practice. IVF has become so entrenched as “just another way” to have a child that any one who speaks the *truth* as you have is looked upon as an insensitive jerk. I pray (when the time comes) that I have the courage to express so well the Catholic viewpoint on IVF. Thank you for your faithfulness to the truth.
FYI, I am a Protestant leaning heavily toward Rome on these and other related bioethics topics. Thanks so much for both of your comments!
Regarding the view that each child is meant to be the product of the awesomeness of male-female marriage union: what is the scriptural basis? This is a challenge, since back in the times that the scriptures were written, there was no IVF. Is there a way to weave together the scriptures about: not cheating, fifth commandment, the statement in Ecclesiastes (11:5) abt how no one knows exactly how a baby id formed in the womb, and so on, to arrive at a conclusion that a human ought not to come from a petri dish? I am a Christian, but not Catholic, so official pronouncements from the Vatican do not mean the same to me in the way that a scriptural analysis does, regardless of who strings it together.
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In response to Anon- at 1:12 pm
I think what’s giving you trouble is that the fact that IVF is wrong is not a truth of revelation; it’s from natural law. So you wouldn’t necessarily find it in Scripture or Sacred Tradition. The primary job of the Church is to safeguard the revealed truths having to do with faith, yes. But she also clearly proclaims even truths that are accessible directly through natural reason, if that truth has a bearing on living the moral life and is being popularly rejected.
An easy example is abortion. It does not take a Bible or recourse to the early Church Fathers to recognize the evil of abortion. Instead, you look at biology, what the unborn is (human) and what the act is (destruction of that human) and weigh any applicable natural law principles (right of the innocent to life, for one). Although the evil of abortion is not revealed in Scripture, the Church teaches about officially about it, because the evil of abortion is a truth that has a great bearing on living a moral life and is widely rejected in society today.
I submit that you don’t need to go to the Bible or the early Church Fathers to recognize the immorality of IVF or contraception, either. Instead you look at science, what the act is (IVF – creation of a human outside the natural sexual union; BC – use of the sexual union for pleasure only) and what the applicable natural law principles might be (end and purpose of the sexual union; rights of child; parents; and so forth). IVF, would thus be another example of the Church proclaiming, not a truth of revelation, but an ethical truth that many people in today’s society cannot or do not want to see so clearly.
Hi all
I react as a non christian. I am sorry if my interrogations offend some of you. This is not my goal. i would like to ask questions regarding points that have been raised
-Yes IVF involves “killing” embryos, which most of you see as wrong. But it seems that theses embryos were somewhat “man made” therefore you are not really killing God’s creation (or by proxy)
-How can you assert the fact that having baby is “God’s plan” while you had to undergo treatment to have these babies. Since when “God’s plan” require human help?
-If God created man, what do you think about man creating man? Is it a sublimation of god’s creation? or is it an insult to him implying that creating life doesn’t require God?
- You are all upset about abortion. killing a human life is evil (I agree with that) However, don’t you think that creating life is as evil as destroying it in the sense that the mortal humans that we are “play God”. If God has a plan for every one, I guess that creating human life could be equated as destroying it : it goes against “the plan”
-Finally, in non-religious topics, I believe that IVF is selfish, stupid and a waste of time, money and human lives.
How many already born human lives could be saved with the money wasted in not-always-successful IVF treatment?
Why do you feel the need to have your OWN genes spread around while millions of children on earth are starving, miserable and orpheans?
Why is it hard to consider that not being able to reproduce may be a part of “God’s plan”
Addopting a baby threatened by starvation instead of having your own against nature is, I feel, also part of perpetuating the specie.
Thanx for having reading me, and sorry if I offended some readers
The process of fertilizing an egg outside of the person is not a sin, just as many other fertility treatments are not sin. It is the act of “discarding” or not implanting those eggs that results in the sin of murder. It is wrong for many churches to condone IVF while simultaneously openly opposing abortion. Church leadership is often more sympathetic to the couple who chooses to sin out of the desire to have a baby over the situation of a girl who chooses to sin because she is unable to parent a baby. Both situations deserve our sympathy and love, while they both need to be recognized as being morally wrong and theologically speaking sin.
Many couples desiring to have IVF can choose to only fertilize the egg that they will implant. In that case no eggs are “discarded” or murdered. In that case IVF is not a sin, in my opinion. The difficult part socially comes when you know someone has had IVF. You do not know for certain that the person has committed a sin, you don’t know if they have repented, and you should not judge something you don’t know. If you think a person in your congregation is sinning you need to first talk to them personally.
This issue highlights another moral ill in our society. We will choose morality based sometimes on what is covered under our health insurance policy rather than biblical teaching. A couple desiring to have a baby that lives in one of the states that requires insurance policies to cover IVF might choose the treatment because it is less expensive for that couple. IVF and adoption costs both vary and both can be as little as 3,000 or as expensive as 20,000. Adoption needs to be made more affordable and more friendly to the needs of the adoptive parents if it is ever going to compete with IVF.
I recently met a young couple who was choosing between child adoption and embryo adoption. They were going to bring into the world a frozen embryo that would otherwise be terminated. As Christians we need to act where we speak. If one speaks openly against IVF and the destruction of embryos one needs to consider what they can do to help the people (embryos, couples, unwed mothers exc.) who are involved in these situations. I am not a biblical scholar but I think that the word hypocrite was used by Jesus as many as eight times. That means that those of us in church leadership (which is really every warmed seat) should take extra care that our opinions do not create a double standard. We need to take care that we don’t condemn when we are not wiling to lend a hand.
I am the mother of two, adopted, cute kids.
I don’t think the process of any ART or IVF could ever create a life. Only God, the Giver and Sustainer of life could create Life. There are so many desperate married couples who go through the agony of shots, hormones, sometimes surgery to be fruitful and multiply, God’s earlier command. Tho’ in the end still no baby. Only God’s will can make the miracle. God told us to be fruitful and multiply. That is not a sin.