An excellent article by Father Shenan J. Boquet, President Human Life International - please see www.hli.org.

Skip to content Human Life International: empowering you to build a pro-life world Mission Resources Free Ebooks News Search DONATE Free Ebook: Which Cosmetics Use Fetal Cells? Alabama’s Court Decision Sparks Debate Over Ethics of IVF Fr. Shenan J. Boquet|February 26, 2024|6 Comments|Spirit & Life Blog Print Print “In a time of deceit telling the truth is a revolutionary act.” — George Orwell A few days ago, the Alabama Supreme Court surprised the country by doing something that is all too rare in today’s culture, i.e. it spoke the truth. In a blockbuster 8-1 decision, the Court ruled that human embryos preserved cryogenically in in vitro fertilization (IVF) clinics are “extrauterine children,” and are therefore protected under the state’s “wrongful death” law. The case that elicited this decision, with such sweeping implications for the rapidly growing IVF industry, was brought forward to the courts by three couples who had human embryos preserved in an Alabama IVF clinic. embryologist at a liquid nitrogen bank containing sperm and egg samples Embryologist at liquid nitrogen bank containing sperm and egg samples In 2020, a client at the clinic entered the cryogenic storage center and removed some of the embryos. The client then accidentally dropped the embryos, with the result that the embryonic children died. The couples who had preserved the embryos subsequently sued the IVF clinic for “wrongful death.” However, the clinic argued that Alabama’s “Wrongful Death of a Minor Act” does not apply to preserved embryos. A circuit court judge initially agreed with the clinic, and ruled to throw out the case, arguing that frozen embryos are property, not persons. The couples then appealed, and the case ended up before the state’s Supreme Court. In a strong ruling, the Court resoundingly affirmed that the Wrongful Death of a Minor Act does indeed apply to embryos preserved in IVF clinics. In the majority ruling, Alabama Supreme Court Justice Jay Mitchell ruled that the Wrongful Death of a Minor Act “applies to all unborn children, regardless of their location.” He added: It applies to all children, born and unborn, without limitation. It is not the role of this Court to craft a new limitation based on our own view of what is or is not wise public policy. That is especially true where, as here, the People of this State have adopted a Constitutional amendment directly aimed at stopping courts from excluding ‘unborn life’ from legal protection. Republicans and Democrats Denounce Ruling Perhaps the most telling thing about the reaction to the Court’s decision, is how widespread the outrage is. The fact is, we live in a world in which reproductive technologies like in vitro fertilization have been almost completely normalized. So normalized are they, in fact, that few people even ponder whether there might be any ethical problems with such technologies. While one would naturally expect pro-abortion activists and Democrats to denounce the rule, it is telling that among those strenuously distancing themselves from this ruling are many so-called “pro-life” Republicans. Indeed, Republicans such as Donald Trump and Kari Lake are not only distancing themselves from the ruling, but they are also actively coming out in support of IVF, suggesting that they should be made more readily available. Lake, for instance, promised that she would “advocate for increased access to fertility treatment for women struggling to get pregnant.” She added that “IVF is extremely important for helping countless families experience the joy of parenthood. I oppose restrictions.” Using explicitly pro-life language, GOP Senate candidate Bernie Moreno stated that he supports IVF because his “goal is to promote a culture of life.” “We have a crisis in this country of people not having enough kids at replacement levels,” Moreno wrote on X. “I’m in favor of anything that promotes people having more babies & strong families.” In a post reacting to the Court’s ruling, President Trump called for “an immediate solution.” “We want to make it easier for mothers and fathers to have babies, not harder!” said the former president. “That includes supporting the availability of fertility treatments like IVF in every State in America.” Trump added he supports IVF, like “the VAST MAJORITY of Republicans, Conservatives, Christians, and Pro-Life Americans.” IVF Is Not Pro-life However, I can assure President Trump that he is wrong on one score: the large majority of pro-life leaders, i.e. those who are the most educated on the life issues, do not support IVF. If you asked them, most would say that they oppose IVF for one simple reason: IVF is an intrinsic evil that transforms human procreation into a method of production, manufacturing our offspring — a process that dehumanizes and commodifies human life, leading to the creation and destruction of many human embryos, i.e. human persons in the earliest stages of their development. As the Catechism of the Catholic Church notes: A child is not something owed to one but is a gift. The ‘supreme gift of marriage’ is a human person. A child may not be considered a piece of property, an idea to which an alleged ‘right to a child’ would lead. In this area, only the child possesses genuine rights: the right ‘to be the fruit of a specific act of the conjugal love of parents,’ and ‘the right to be respected as a person from the moment of conception.’ In IVF, eggs harvested from a woman are combined with sperm harvested from a man, to create human embryos, i.e. genetically unique, living human beings. These are then implanted in the mother’s womb. However, because the embryos often fail to implant successfully in the mother’s womb, it is common practice to create more embryos than will be used. The “leftovers” are then frozen indefinitely in a cryogenic chamber or destroyed. IVF is NOT Pro-Life! Let's Take a Look Frozen Embryos are Children Too While the Alabama Court’s decision has horrified even many on the political right, who are clearly afraid that opposing IVF is a political loser, in reality the Court was simply acknowledging basic biological facts and applying consistent logic to the state’s pro-life laws. If the state recognizes the rights of preborn children, then it must recognize the rights of embryos frozen in the state’s IVF clinics. As the court noted, the Alabama State Constitution is very clear that “it is the public policy of this state to recognize and support the sanctity of unborn life and the rights of unborn children, including the right to life,” as well as to “ensure the protection of the rights of the unborn child in all manners and measures lawful and appropriate.” In light of this, “The central question,” wrote the Court’s chief justice, “…is whether the act contains an unwritten exception to that rule for extrauterine children – that is, unborn children who are located outside of a biological uterus at the time they are killed. Under existing black-letter law, the answer to that question is no: the Wrongful Death of a Minor Act applies to all unborn children, regardless of their location.” Rather than running frightened from this decision, so-called “pro-life” American politicians should be asking themselves how it is they missed something so glaringly obvious, i.e. that IVF involves the industrialized commodification and destruction of human life in a way that clearly violates fundamental pro-life principles. Related: Ethical Issues of IVF and Alternative Infertility Treatment Options A Good End Doesn’t Justify Evil Means It may come as a surprise to some people (though it certainly shouldn’t), but the Catholic Church has consistently maintained and taught that IVF is a grave evil, precisely because it distorts human procreation by assaulting the ends of marriage (Humanae vitae, no. 12) and ignores the right of the child to be begotten through a mother and father’s act of love (i.e., marital act), failing to see the child as equal in dignity to his or her parents. The Church is despised by so many people not because it is imposing a religious view on the science, but rather because it is the only institution that acknowledges the science, and then consistently applies fundamental ethical principles to the science. “We all say we agree that all human beings have human rights,” states the Church. “But we alone have the courage of conviction to be consistent and to apply this in all cases.” In the Declaration on Procured Abortion, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) states that, “from the time that the ovum is fertilized, a life is begun which is neither that of the father nor the mother; it is rather the life of a new human being with his own growth. It would never be made human if it were not human already. This has always been clear, and … modern genetic science offers clear confirmation…” In Donum vitae, the CDF draws out the sweeping ethical implications of this scientific fact: Thus, the fruit of human generation, from the first moment of its existence, that is to say, from the moment the zygote has formed, demands the unconditional respect that is morally due to the human being in his bodily and spiritual totality. The human being is to be respected and treated as a person from the moment of conception; and therefore, from the same moment his rights as a person must be recognized, among which in the first place is the inviolable right of every innocent human being to life. Children Born Through IVF Still Have Dignity Unfortunately, the public debate on IVF is often extraordinarily shallow and uninformed. As we saw above, many people, including self-proclaimed “pro-life” politicians, view the Church’s position as self-contradictory. “You say you’re pro-life,” such people will say, “and yet you are opposed to infertile couples being given the gift of having children through this marvelous technology.” Even more dishonestly, some people will suggest that by opposing IVF, the Catholic Church is somehow rejecting the children who are born through IVF. Why IVF and Contraception are Sins: Catholic Morals It can be infuriating dealing with such grotesque misrepresentations of the Church’s position. In many cases, these misrepresentations seem to be motivated by nothing other than a perverse desire to confuse and mislead. However, in other cases it stems simply from ignorance, and our own failure to teach clearly. In responding to the kind of misrepresentations we saw above it is important that, in the first place, we emphasize that children who are born through artificial reproductive technologies are, in every single respect, as worthy as any other human being. After all, the children conceived through IVF had no part whatsoever in the choice of the mode of their conception. They bear no guilt, and the mode of conception clearly has no bearing whatsoever on their dignity and worth. The Vatican clearly affirmed this principle in Donum vitae, writing, “Although the manner in which human conception is achieved with IVF … cannot be approved, every child which comes into the world must in any case be accepted as a living gift of the divine Goodness and must be brought up with love.” Secondly, it is important that we emphasize the ethical principle that a good aim or intention does not make an evil act good. Yes, many couples who resort to IVF desperately desire children — a desire that is, in and of itself, a good thing. The children that come about through IVF are also good. However, the means that the parents have chosen to pursue the good aim of having children is evil, regardless of their intentions. As such, it must be opposed. We Must Pray for the Protection of All Human Life The Vatican’s teaching in documents like Donum vitae and Dignitas personae guide us concerning reverence for the dignity of the human person from the moment of conception and respect for the marital act in its unitive and procreative dimensions. They explain the various reasons why IVF is not acceptable, i.e. it destroys the unitive dimension of a couple’s love by conceiving their child in a lab through the actions of a third party, commodifies human life by turning it into a product to be bought, and results in the destruction of untold embryonic humans. Right now, it is estimated that over one million embryonic human beings are in cryogenic suspended animation in U.S. IVF clinics. Many millions more are preserved in clinics elsewhere on the globe or are being created and experimented upon (and destroyed) in many universities. Tragically, our consciences have been dulled to this industrialized destruction of human life. Let us pray that the Alabama Court’s decision will provide an occasion for some serious soul-searching about our society’s premature and unjustified acceptance of IVF. And in the meantime, let us educate ourselves on these complex issues by reading the Church’s rich teaching documents, so that we are better equipped to respond to the many distortions on this topic in the media and popular culture. Related: Trusting God through Infertility FR. SHENAN J. BOQUET As president of Human Life International, Fr. Boquet is a leading expert on the international pro-life and family movement, having journeyed to nearly 90 countries on pro-life missions over the last decade. Father Boquet works with pro-life and family leaders in 116 counties that partner with HLI to proclaim and advance the Gospel of Life. Read his full bio here. Cosmetics-e-book-ad-300-x-250 6 Comments Share on Facebook Share on X (Twitter) Share on Email Share on SMS Latest News ukraine Ukraine Caught Between Russian Guns and U.S. Abortion Demands By Living a Culture of Life Podcast | February 22, 2024 Mwajuma and Julieth Stories of Hope from Our Mission Field By Marisa Cantu | February 21, 2024 cross with wedding rings Why Our World Needs the Good News of Marriage By Fr. Shenan J. Boquet | February 19, 2024 Did you find this useful? Then you'll also enjoy our physician-reviewed guide explaining in detail why we don't need abortion, even in the "hard cases." Claim your ebook to gain this critical knowledge! First Name Last Name Email Address GET IT NOW 6 Comments Susan on February 26, 2024 at 2:03 PM President Warp Speed began with the “beautiful” Confederate statues and he finishes with the “beautiful” IVF babies. I knew this triangulating would happen as he has *always* affirmed Obergefell and, in trying to impose rape exceptions on the GOP platform, has *never* been a true prolifer. He never saw the power of “created equal” to abolish abortion as it did slavery. Instead he undercut created equal, and “inalienable”, by allowing states to decide abortion. The “parents” in this court case are not blameless . They should be prosecuted for allowing the child to be conceived in frankentube and placed in the indefinite limbo of cryogenic incarceration. Much more attention should be paid to the papal document “Dignitas Personae” which explains the limbo suffered by such a child who cannot ethically be implanted in a surrogate. That child is the unfortunate “creature of the state” because it was the technician, not mom and dad, who created him.. Frankentube New World is most likely the wolf that hounded Benedict XVI to his resignation statement because “they” could see how he would stand in the wolf’s way. Too often people miss the real reason IVF is wrong… Not so much because of the collateral embryo deaths (which leftists like to say are analogous to spontaneous miscarriages). But because these children were not allowed to be conceived within the marital embrace. Shame on the priests who fail to preach Dignitas Personae, covering for the homosexuals’ need to see virtue in the frankentube. First off, the child should be educated that despite his evil means of conception (which could be compared to the evil of rape), he has a Father and mother in heaven who dearly love him. He should be taught the beauty of natural conception and to prioritize this for his own life. Read “Brave new world” to understand the plan is to make frankentube the norm to concoct obedient citizens. And the homosexuals and gender confused will be the paid “incubator” parents. With some experience, they can also be the foster homes for children snatched from “wrong thinking” natural parents. Mom and Dad matters. Reply Rey on February 27, 2024 at 10:18 PM This was a beautiful and refreshing article and exposé of our Catholic moral doctrine and eternal truths! Thank you, Fr. Bouquet. I totally agree that we need to denounce the evil of IVF because of its evil means and not for its “good” end. The good end can never justify the evil means to that end. And, what the lower Alabama court said to dismiss the wrongful death of frozen embryos case can give everyone, especially fellow prolifers, reason to reject IVF that unjustly reduces these human beings as “PROPERTY” not persons! It almost sounds like a new type of modern slave trade in which human beings are merch, products, even customized, bought and sold as things of property, stripped of all their human worth and dignity in the process. Reply Camille Dyer on February 26, 2024 at 1:32 PM As a devout Catholic, I disagree with the church looking at in vitro fertilization as evil. My husband and I adore each other and wanted a family. We couldn’t conceive. We used his sperm and my eggs for in vitro fertilization. I can assure you we are very much united in love and faith. We know have 2 grown children who have stepped away from the church. Everyday I pray for their return to the Catholic Church. I also remind them that some of the rules in the Catholic Church are man made. This rule of looking at a couple who longs for a child as evil are reasons people leave the Catholic Church. Where in the Bible does it say this? How sad to be told I am evil for having biological children using a method called IVF because we had trouble conceiving on our own. I truly believe Jesus would frown upon the Church for calling a husband and wife evil for wanting to procreate. I recall sitting in mass when a Deacon compared In Vitro Fertilization to abortion!!! That is a disgrace. No where in the Bible does it say this! It seems the men in the church are dictating the rules to their liking. We will all be judged someday!! Reply Rey on February 27, 2024 at 10:57 PM I don’t think you read this article carefully. Wanting to have children and having children was never a bad thing. HOW this was achieved through IVF, and you were probably uniformed and unaware that there were many other embyo lives sacrificed on way. I’m not judging you nor your motives, just pointing to why IVF as a method is so careless that it kills babies along the way. This is basically why the Church says IVF is evil and can be likened to abortion, not the final product of IVF but the messy bloody process. We are all sinners-from the beginning of man’s history!- and sometimes we even sin without knowing. But, when we are touched by Truth, hard Truth, Tough Love Truth, and we surrender to Him, we also hear Jesus saying, “Go and sin no more.”, at Confession. And, at the end that’s what really matters and God wants, that we turn turn to Him with a humble repentant heart. Reply Virginia Korneluk on February 26, 2024 at 1:21 PM What then is to become of the millions of fertilized eggs – embryos now that are still cryogenically frozen according to the Church, since they cannot be destroyed? Reply Rey on February 27, 2024 at 10:26 PM I would suggest embryo ADOPTION as a rescue or lifesaving gesture. But, the bad side-effect to embryo adoption is that it might seem to justify and encourage IVF instead of discouraging it. Still, between letting frozen embryos thaw off to die and implantation to give them a chance at life with parents willing to adopt them, the lesser evil would be the latter. Reply Leave a Comment Comment Name (required) Email (will not be published) (required) human-life-international-white-logo Human Life International is a Catholic, pro-life non-profit. Through us, pro-lifers like you sponsor life-saving missions in over 100 countries. We also work hard to make sure you have the truth about life and family issues at your fingertips. Facebook YouTube Spotify Apple Podcasts Instagram Quick Links Leadership Offices Patroness Store St. Michael Campaign Ways to Give Annual Report Mission Reports Media Privacy Policy Whistleblower Policy Ebooks Which Cosmetics Use Fetal Cells? How Contraception Built the Abortion Culture Why We Don't Need Abortion (Even for the 'Hard Cases') Contact Contact Form hli@hli.org 1-800-549-5433 4 Family Life Lane, Front Royal, VA 22630 © 2024 Human Life International