Why We Need the Church's Guidance in Today's World: Embryo Adoption

Recently I was on Baby Center.com's message boards, and one woman had posted in her signature that she was a "proud single mother through the miracle of embryo donation." 

Embryo donation?  What the heck is that??  So I googled it.

Embryo donation is when a couple who is attempting in-vitro fertilization has "leftover" frozen embryos (fertilized eggs, aka complete human beings with souls) and donates those embryos to another couple who is trying to conceive.  The embryos are inserted into the surrogate mother's uterus and if they implant, will continue to develop until they are born. Very interesting.


My next question, was, "Is this okay?"  Is it actually morally acceptable to adopt another couple's embryo?  There is no question in my mind that in-vitro fertilization is morally wrong - the removal of eggs and sperm and fertilization in a petri dish removes the creation of life from the marital act, where it belongs.  Not to mention the fact that the process might yield "leftover" embryos, or that if too many embryos implant, a couple must decide to "select" which babies to keep, and which to abort.  But I'm not going to write a whole article on why in-vitro fertilization is wrong.  The United Sates Conference of Catholic Bishops already did that.  If you do wish to have a better understanding of why the Church opposes in-vitro fertilization, you can read their article here.

So back to embryo adoption.  First of all, you must understand that embryos are babies.  Tiny human beings complete with souls!  Regardless of how they were created, they are still deserving of dignity and respect, as they bear the image and likeness of God! 

These "leftover" embryos (400,000 in the U.S. alone) have several possible outcomes:

1. They can stay frozen forever.
2. They can be donated to "science" and used for experiments until they are ultimately destroyed.
3. They can be allowed to thaw and die without the chance to flourish.
4. They can be implanted into a woman's womb and allowed to grow there to viability.

What can be done for these poor babies?  I found a really good article (dated 2005) from Catholic.org that explores the question: Can Embryos be Adopted?.  At the time, the Church had no official teaching on the matter, and moral theologian Father Thomas Williams gave his personal opinions on embryo adoption. 

"Q: Why is there so much debate surrounding embryo adoption?
Father Williams: We are starting from an "unnatural" situation, one that should never have existed. The production and cryogenic preservation of human embryos --- upwards of 400,000 already --- is a moral aberration, and morally sensitive people spontaneously recoil from this procedure. Many people, ethicists included, have difficulty separating this wrong situation from what can morally be done to help those embryonic persons that now exist.

Q: Doesn't embryo adoption at least tacitly imply approval of the process by which these embryos came into existence?
Father Williams: Not at all. When a couple adopts a child that was conceived by an act of rape, does the couple condone that violence? Of course not. The child that came into existence because of that terrible act, through no fault of its own, is still worthy of kindness and care."

I, for one, agree with many of his points.  The adoptive couple would not necessarily be "creating" life outside of the marital act, because life has already been created.  They would be "rescuing" the life of the child that otherwise would not have the chance to flourish.  And if the Church were to declare that it was morally acceptable, it wouldn't mean that the Church condones in-vitro fertilization any more than the Church's acceptance of a child resulting from rape would mean that the Church condones rape (does that make sense?).

On the other hand, I can see how the Church might oppose it, because it is an artificial form of bearing life through surrogacy that goes against Natural Law.

In 2009 the Church published Dignitas Personae, which discusses embryo adoption.

"The proposal that these embryos could be put at the disposal of infertile couples as a treatment for infertility is not ethically acceptable for the same reasons which make artificial heterologous procreation illicit as well as any form of surrogate motherhood;[38] this practice would also lead to other problems of a medical, psychological and legal nature.

It has also been proposed, solely in order to allow human beings to be born who are otherwise condemned to destruction, that there could be a form of “prenatal adoption”. This proposal, praiseworthy with regard to the intention of respecting and defending human life, presents however various problems not dissimilar to those mentioned above.

All things considered, it needs to be recognized that the thousands of abandoned embryos represent a situation of injustice which in fact cannot be resolved. Therefore John Paul II made an “appeal to the conscience of the world’s scientific authorities and in particular to doctors, that the production of human embryos be halted, taking into account that there seems to be no morally licit solution regarding the human destiny of the thousands and thousands of ‘frozen’ embryos which are and remain the subjects of essential rights and should therefore be protected by law as human persons”.[39]"

The USCCB explains that in Dignitas Personae, "Proposals for "adoption" of abandoned or unwanted frozen embryos are also found to pose problems, because the Church opposes the use of gametes or bodies of others who are outside the marital covenant for reproduction.  The document raises cautions or problems about these new issues but does not formally make a definitive judgment against them."

I'm so torn on this issue, that I'm glad I'm not the one who has to decide.  Situations like these make me so glad we have the Church to guide us through these morally murky waters as science continues to "advance."  I feel sorry for those Christians who have only God's Word as given to them in the Bible to guide their moral decisions.  Not that the Bible is a bad thing, but come on - where are "in-vitro fertilization," "stem-cell research," and "embryo adoption" in the Bible?  I'm so thankful that God, in His infinite wisdom, has given us the Church to prayerfully discern His will for us in today's world and guide us to Heaven.

Which is why Pope Benedict and other Church leaders need our constant prayers.  They are only human, after all, and yet they are charged with thoughtfully and prayerfully discerning God's will and then guiding the Church to the best of their abilities.  And then we must trust that God will never abandon His Church, and that the gates of Hell will not prevail against it.  We believe that God has given us the Church to guide us to Heaven, and by trusting in the Church's guidance, we are trusting in God.



Comments, please!!  I would love to know what everyone thinks about this "embryo adoption!"  And remember that if you don't have a blogger account and must post anonymously, please sign your name!