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Stem Cell Research
“When we elect our lawmakers in America, we
influence the moral character of this nation for better or for worse. When our laws permit violence against little
babies, incidents like the Columbine High School shootings are the logical outcome
…”
Rev. Frank Pavone, National Priests
for Life
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The New Saint Joseph Baltimore Catechism (Official Baltimore Catechism
Series No. 2) Revised Edition
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This Catechism retains the text of the Revised Baltimore Catechism,
Number 2, but adds abundant explanations to help children understand the difficult parts
of each lesson along with pictures to aid in understanding.
Intended for grades 6-8
Official
Baltimore Catechism Series No. 1
is also available
Click Here
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I received this message from someone visiting this web site and I would like to
share this with you. If anyone has anything else to add to my reply I will forward it on
to this young lady.
--- Original Message -----
Sent: Tuesday, August 15, 2000 1:13 PM
Subject: egg donation
My question for you today is [my friend] told me she is considering donating some of her
eggs for IVF. She said it pays a lot and she would be helping people to achieve a
pregnancy. Please give me some facts about this to share with her and how I might go about
telling her that she should not do this.
I appreciate your work. Thank you.
God bless,
Thanks for writing. Sorry about the delay in replying to your message.
On the surface donating ones eggs or sperm for in vitro fertilization sounds like a noble
idea. Adding the financial reward one receives for making the donation the temptation
becomes even greater. One must consider however all of the ramifications.
The process of in vitro fertilization includes the harvesting of the egg or sperm from the
donor, fertilization, embryo culture, and embryo transfer.
The first thing one must consider is how are these "fertilized" eggs going to be
handled. The doctors will take the fertilized eggs (embryos) and select the ones that they
feel will be the most viable. At this point also the sex of the child can be determined
and of course that brings up another set of issues that we will not address at this point.
One mast ask what is to become of the rejected embryos? In some cases they will be
discarded and in others they will be given to science for who knows what type of
experimentation. The Church has maintained that life begins upon fertilization therefore
neither of these options are acceptable.
Second one must consider what happens once the mother is impregnated. After the embryos
are cultured (allowed to grow) for 40 hours in the lab 3 or 4 are chosen and transferred
to the uterine cavity. Some time during the pregnancy cycle the doctor will suggest a
selective reduction to increase the viability of the remaining fetus and to decrease the
risk to the mother associated with multiple births (this is also the primary reason the
Church is against fertility drugs as well). What a selective reduction means is the doctor
will suggest they abort all but 1 or 2 of the babies. This is just abortion in a plain
vanilla wrapper to make it appear more humane. Of course the Church is against this.
The third consideration is a little more abstract than the others but nevertheless needs
to be considered. As these procedures become more common society needs to consider the
fact that brothers and sisters (because they came from the same egg or sperm donor) may
one day be married and procreate without even knowing they are related. This will bring a
new set of social, moral, and even medical ramifications.
There are many other considerations as well but I believe these three illustrate clearly
why caution needs to be exercised in this area of science. It clearly shows why the Church
is against these processes. In most cases the desire for children is so great that one
does not consider or think through all the ramifications. Even when one considers in vitro
fertilization for ones own benefit these issues need to be addressed and thoroughly
considered.
Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam
Joseph "Keith" Abell R.Ph. MI
This Page last updated: Tuesday, October 31, 2000
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