The controversial ethical issue of in vitro fertilization (IVF) has not stopped our bishops, Mgr Paul Cremona Mgr Mario Grech, from guiding their flock through an enlightening pastoral letter. In fact, theirs is a bold pastoral document written at a time when locally civil legislation is badly needed to bring about the required regulation in the practice of IVF.
As was expected, the bishops tackled the subject from a moral-ethical viewpoint. Moreover, they substantiate what they say by quoting various Church documents to present their arguments in a more tenable and convincing fashion.
IVF is a process in which an egg is fertilized by sperm outside the body, thus in vitro, is rejected by the Church on three basic values. For the Church infertility can never be cured if human dignity is trampled upon. IVF goes diametrically opposite against the value of life and the physical integrity of every person, the value of conjugal unity, and, finally, the value of human sexuality in marriage.
The bishops explain these three core values that help us to appreciate the inherent value of every human being as well as to wholeheartedly foster the much-needed culture of life. To begin with, by the value of life and the physical integrity of every person, the bishops mean that both the latter and the former “must be protected from the very moment of conception until the moment of natural death of the human person, more so when the person is in a vulnerable state”. In order to support their moral stance, they quote from the Instruction on respect for human life in its origin and on the dignity of procreation, ‘Donum Vitae’. The Instruction declares that “from conception, a life is begun which is neither that of the father nor of 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”. Thus, human life should be respected from the moment of its conception. It is intrinsically immoral when human life ends up being at the mercy of and exploited by scientific experimentation.
The second value, the bishops assert, is conjugal unity. For them, “This unity is manifest in the respect which the married couple fosters for one another; in recognizing that in their marriage, they have the right to become parents. The married man and woman, through their reciprocal gift of love, bring one another to perfection when they cooperate with the Creator in the conception and bearing of children.”
Accordingly, any intervention that causes artificial fertilization violates the marital communion of love and fidelity. Furthermore, it “obstructs the right of the married couple to become parents exclusively through their mutual co-operative action”.
The final value the pastoral letter highlights is that of human sexuality in marriage. The bishops state that “the conception of a human person should be the outcome of the mutual self-giving love of the married couple. This gift is realized through their sexual intimacy, an action through which the man and the woman become ‘one body’”. Therefore, human conception is not merely a biological act.
Neither is it to be confounded with the sheer production of human embryos “as if they were objects”. The bishops conclude that “the gift of human life should be eagerly accepted in marriage, which is the ideal and most natural situation for conception to take place, through personal acts which are exclusive and specific to married men and women”.
Imbued with a motherly love, the Church suffers with couples who face infertility problems. Instead of opting for the easy immoral solution of IVF, the bishops encourage these couples to adopt or accept to foster children. Such an act shows their heroic generosity.
Additionally, “these couples offer hope not only to those children whom they have welcomed into their lives and who are being reared with love and care, but also to those couples, who similarly, are hoping to be parents”.
Human life is to be celebrated indeed!
Fr Mario Attard OFM Cap
SAN GWANN