Dear Parishioners,

Recently the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that all embryos are human beings and should be protected under the law. They ruled this way because certain embryos were accidentally destroyed at a clinic for In Vitro Fertilization (IVF). We should be very glad that they ruled this way because we should support measures that protect human life from conception to natural death. Unfortunately, while opposing elective abortion is a main pillar of the pro-life movement, people often turn a blind eye to IVF because it is bringing life into the world. So, I would like to take some time in this article to explain why IVF is in fact immoral. I have already written about why life begins at conception and why elective abortion is wrong. So, please see my previous articles for those points.

First, we have to recognize that IVF as it is currently practiced involves abortion. IVF brings about more human lives then anyone intends to implant because some are bound to be killed while being implanted and the excess embryos are either discarded or kept indefinitely in stasis with little to no hope of growing. Then even after the embryos are implanted, if too many survive, the doctors and parents often choose which embryos they wish to keep and which will be aborted. Each one of these embryos is a human life and if we believe that abortion is wrong, we would have to believe that IVF is wrong because it uses abortion. We can never do evil (abortion) even if a good can come from it (having a child.)

Second, even if we find a way to eliminate the need for abortion in this process, it would still be immoral because it is against the dignity of the child to be conceived outside a loving union between a husband and a wife. Children are not products we can will into existence or purchase. Children are a gift from God and we need to respect when He grants life and when He does not.

Overall, I think we can all sympathize with a couple that really wants to have a child. Bearing children is a good and natural urge and every couple should be open to life. It is no wonder why so many people think that IVF is a good thing and politicians on both sides of the aisle are preparing to protect the procedure. But we have to be people that live by God’s will and not our own. We have to be people who recognize the truth especially when it is inconvenient. My advice to parents having trouble conceiving is to find another way to have children or to bear this cross that Christ has given you for your sanctification. Either way, I will pray for you.

God bless!

Fr. Carter