The Right to Build A Family
Family.
Modern mainstream Christianity, particularly in the West, reserves this word for one man, one woman, and their biologically related children. This model is considered representative of what God expects from humans and a large number of children is considered a blessing.
For too long, the Catholic community, especially the hierarchy, stigmatized couples who struggled to conceive rather than ministering to them. They were somehow “less than” fertile couples and, in recent years, denigrated for attempting to conceive through assistive reproductive technologies.
In an era where priests who abuse children, adults, and the most vulnerable continue to operate without meaningful consequences, calling IVF and ART sinful simply adds insult to injury.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church states, “The Gospel shows that physical sterility is not an absolute evil. Spouses who still suffer from infertility after exhausting legitimate medical procedures should unite themselves with the Lord's Cross, the source of all spiritual fecundity. They can give expression to their generosity by adopting abandoned children or performing demanding services for others” (Canon 2379). The wording here is incredibly harmful and dismissive. If you remove the formal language of the Church, it basically says, “Oh, couples who cannot conceive aren’t evil, if they tried everything natural. They just need to suffer with Christ, perhaps adopt, or work really hard for other people to show their love.” Not a very compassionate message.
A bit of progress
In 1978, the first child conceived by in vitro fertilization (IVF) was born, which gave people who previously struggled with infertility hope. In the years that followed, several things happened. The Catholic Church condemned the use of IVF as an affront to God’s plan and natural law. However, lay Catholics began to push back against this teaching and many used IVF to bring children into the world. The medical community made great strides to make IVF safer, more successful, and more affordable. Other methods of assisted reproductive technology (ART) were made available, including the option to freeze embryos.
On December 15, 2022 Senators Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) and Patty Murray (D-WA), along with Congresswoman Susan Wild (D-PA-07), introduced legislation to protect access to IVF for anyone who needs assisted reproductive technology to build their family.
The Backlash
In response to these life-giving technologies, the Catholic hierarchy responded with detailed explanations of why they viewed IVF and ART as immoral. The main arguments detail how God intended for children to be conceived through the natural act of sex between married persons. The magisterium teaches that it is immoral and sinful to remove the egg or sperm from the human body to aid conception because it interferes with God’s plan and the conjugal marriage act. The 1987 document Donum Vitae (The Gift of Life), states “they [IVF and ART] do violence to the dignity of the human person and the institution of marriage” and “The new life is not engendered through an act of love between husband and wife, but by a laboratory procedure performed by doctors or technicians.”
I personally know two couples who used IVF and ART to conceive their children. Their journeys were filled with acts of love and sacrifice. They gave deeply of themselves to one another and to the process that would eventually bring about new life. The level of joy when their healthy children were born was through the roof. They never praised the doctors, technicians, or laboratory procedures as the givers of life. Instead, they recognized that God had endowed scientists and doctors with the knowledge and expertise to help them overcome a medical condition and welcome children into their family and the world. These beautiful babies were baptized in the Catholic Church and continue to thrive and grow in faith-filled families.
Change in Church teachings is not new
The Catholic Church has a history of being very slow to change its teachings on various topics, including human sexuality, the human body, and human dignity. Cremation was outlawed for centuries until the position was reversed in 1963. It took 359 years for the Church to reverse its condemnation of Galileo for claiming the earth revolved around the sun. Usury (charging interest on a loan) gradually evolved from sinful to simply part of doing business. And let’s not forget that Augustine of Hippo taught that even Jesus Christ would not want a slave to be made free, but to be made a good slave. It was not until 1890 that Pope Leo XIII publicly declared his resolve to work for emancipation and the abolition of slavery. None of these changes came easily, although all of them seem so logical to us today.
During a time when medical advances assist us in myriad ways, it is illogical to condemn persons for choosing IVF and ART to build families. In an era where priests who abuse children, adults, and the most vulnerable continue to operate without meaningful consequences, calling IVF and ART sinful simply adds insult to injury. In a church whose laws are made by celibate men, it is preposterous for them to state that only marital sex contains the appropriate type of love to conceive a child.
It is bad enough that this teaching negatively impacts many Catholics who attend church and try to faithfully follow the mandates of the institution. After all, each person can decide for themselves what they will accept and what they will reject in their own life. But, there is a group of people who would like to take these teachings and make them the law of the land.
Immediate need
On June 24, 2022, the Supreme Court of the United States overturned Roe v. Wade. As soon as that landmark decision was reversed, conservative religious advocates and representatives began to plan their next steps in outlawing reproductive health procedures. According to an article in USA Today, “Some state-level abortion bans or proposals contain no exceptions for IVF, including the process by which eggs are harvested and then fertilized in a laboratory.” Another area of concern is the 600,000 frozen embryos in storage nationally (number provided by the Department of Health and Human Services). It is likely that the same group of people who acted to overturn Roe vs Wade will try to erase the decades of medical breakthroughs that allow people throughout our country to bring life into our world.
Many of these people are Catholics in name but perhaps have not read paragraph 1935 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which states (italics mine):
“The equality of [persons] rests essentially on their dignity as persons and the rights that flow from it: Every form of social or cultural discrimination in fundamental personal rights on the grounds of sex, race, color, social conditions, language, or religion must be curbed and eradicated as incompatible with God’s design.”
Hoping to get ahead of any discriminatory legislation, on December 15, 2022 Senators Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) and Patty Murray (D-WA), along with Congresswoman Susan Wild (D-PA-07), introduced legislation to protect access to IVF for anyone who needs assisted reproductive technology to build their family. The “Right to Build Families Act of 2022” is posted on Senator Duckworth’s website. It is remarkable that in this day and age we need a bill like this to protect ourselves from being legally prohibited from life-giving medical technology. Our hope comes from the strong leadership of congressional representatives who see the danger and act quickly.
You can act for justice
These advocates can’t do their job alone. We at Call To Action encourage you to contact your bishops and let them know that religious beliefs have no place in the legislature, especially when not every person in the U.S. upholds those beliefs. Secular society must respect every person’s religious affiliation. The Catholic Church professes that and so should the bishops.
In addition, contact your congressional representatives immediately and let them know you support this bill. Use these websites to find your representatives:
https://www.congress.gov/members/find-your-member
Simply put your home address in the box labeled “find your member by address”
You may choose to call the phone number listed by your representatives
You might prefer to send an email. Click the “contact” link and it will take you to the congressperson’s website where you can locate the email information.
Do you wonder if your call or email really makes a difference? CLICK HERE to find out why the answer is “Yes!”
1 https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0020964320961668
2 Catholicae Ecclesiae (November 20, 1890) | LEO XIII
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