In Vetro Fertilization

the process of a ripe human egg extracted from the ovary, shortly before it

would have been released naturally. Next the egg is mixed with the semen

of the husband or partner, so that fertilization can occur. The fertilized

egg, once it has started to divide, is then transferred back to the mother’s

This procedure which was first successfully completed in July 1978 and has still only reached, twenty plus years later, a success rate of 10-20% per egg implanted (Warnock, p.4). This procedure has had a l

There will also be different types of feelings between the parents and the child. First, the parents will look at their child as a right, not as a gift of creation (Schooyans, p.32). The child then becomes something, like an object, to own, an object which they put a price tag on (Schooyans, p.31). The child will become the parents object to which they own, something that which they bought. It brings up the point that if ten years down the road from birth, the child begins to show aspects which the parents do not approve of, then the parents will question the origin of the child (Schooyans, p.35). The parents will wonder if the doctor had made a mistake, labeling the test tubes or in transporting the specimens, and question if the child that is produced is really the result of the joining of their egg and sperm. A sense of wonder as such could produce tension in the family environment and continue to breakup the family. Not only will the parents wonder, the child could develop suspicions of their origin as well, (Schooyans, p.36). Now there would be a child growing up feeling more alone, more isolated from the world, and the two people who they have always felt most secure with, would begin to drift further and further away. In vitro fertilization removes the certainty of origin created through natural conception and adds the chance of experimental error to the process.

things necessary for this purpose (Maritain, p.65).

fulfillment of his destiny, obviously, then, he has the right to fulfill his

According to the rights of the human person, “the human person has the right to be respected, is the subject of rights, (and) possesses rights,” (Maritain, p.65). A question that is constantly under debate is exactly when is a new live person created. This debate can be solved when looking at when the spirited soul is created. This occurs at the moment of conception, when the egg is fertilized by the sperm, and God creates the human spirited soul (Schooyans, p.26). At this time, the person is created and by nature, they are a social being which requires relationships with other people. At any time during the lifetime of the person, even while it is still an embryo, it is immoral to increase violence upon it. Principles of philosophy says that good ought to be done and evil avoided. The rights of the human person can be summarized as:

To reduce cohabitation and the conjugal act to a simple organic function for the transmission of seed would be converting the home, the sanctuary of the family, into a mere biological laboratory…The conjugal act, ordained and willed by nature, is a personal act of cooperation, the right to which husband and wife give each other when they marry, (McFadden, p.63).

The preceding arguments have discussed why in vitro fertilization is immoral, but it has dealt with reasons before the child is born. Many children have been produced using this procedure, and once the child has become a part of the domestic society, there are more complications. A child born from in vitro fertilization disrupts the natural foundations of the family. According to principles, an agent produces a like to self. This means that a child born from two parents will produce a child which is similar to them. If parents have decided to have a child through in vitro fertilization, they are immoral, and since it is their obligation to educate their children, then the child will be educated from people who are immoral and thus the child will be immoral as well (Higgins, p.407). It is the end of the parents to guide their children to the proper ends of the family, and since the parents have the correct ends in mind (reproduction of the species), the process in which they arrived at the end is immoral (Higgins, p.407). It is immoral to use an evil act to achieve a good end Pope Pius XII addressed the problem of the family and the consequences of in vitro fertilization in his November, 1951 address:

Some topics in this essay:
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