In Vitro Fertilization (IVF), Why Not? by John Carberry

In vitro fertilization (IVF) and embryo transfer (ET) are common issues in today’s culture where
the Church rules one way, and the people follow another. In vitro comes from the Latin word
meaning in glass because the female egg is fertilized in a petri dish rather than naturally in a
mother’s womb. The embryo is then transferred into the mother’s womb or that of a surrogate.
Surrogate comes from the Latin: surrogare meaning substitute. Perhaps a study of the Church’s
reasoning along with a factual study of the science of in vitro fertilization can change a few
minds.

The Church teaches that regarding medical treatment of infertility, three important doctrines
should not be compromised: 1) the right to life from conception to natural death must be
respected, 2) the unity of marriage where only the two spouses become father and mother and, 3)
procreation must be brought about through the fruit of the conjugal act between the loving
spouses. Techniques assisting procreation should not be rejected on the grounds that they are
artificial, but they must be morally evaluated as to whether a person realizes his vocation, or
calling, from God to the gift of love and the gift of life.1

Every human being is formed in the image and likeness of God (Gn 1:27, 9:6, Sir 17:1) and
accordingly possesses an inherent dignity from the moment of conception through natural death.2
Such dignity belongs to the person simply because he or she exists and is willed, created, and
loved by God.3 The Church defines a person as an “individual substance of a rational nature” so
as to insure that an unborn child, an unconscious person and an older person in distress are
included.4 Every human life is very good from conception (Gn 1:31), having its origin and goal
in the eternal, reflecting the face of God’s Only-begotten Son.5

The origin of human life is generated through the sɛҳuąƖ act of reciprocal love between a man
and a woman, a gift of the spouses to each other. While every human life is to be accepted as a
gift and blessing of God, responsible procreation must be the fruit of marriage. The fidelity of
the spouses in the unity of marriage provides that each spouse has a right to become a father and
mother only through each other. Through reciprocal self-giving, the child is the living image of
the spouses’ love and a permanent sign of their conjugal union.6 Conjugal comes from the Latin
conjungere which means to join or unite in marriage, and it often implies the physical joining
through the spouses’ sɛҳuąƖity. There can be no contradiction between the divine laws
pertaining to procreation and those pertaining to authentic conjugal love.7 Natural law, the law
of nature, proscribes that the transmission of life is inscribed in this natural act to which we must
all follow.8 Christian marriage is rooted in this natural complementarity existing between a man
and a woman.9 Techniques that facilitate the conjugal act (hormonal treatments for infertility,
unblocking the fallopian tubes) are acceptable, but those that substitute for the conjugal act
(artificial fertilization) are not. The conjugal act alone is worthy of truly responsible procreation.
Adoption is encouraged for many infertile couples.10 Separation of procreation from the
conjugal act is ethically unacceptable, human procreation through the conjugal act is not capable
of substitution. Desire for a child cannot justify the production of offspring just as desire not to
have a child cannot justify abandonment or destruction of a conceived child.11 In vitro
fertilization is therefore illicit even when only the two spouses are involved because the loving
union of the conjugal act is separated from the procreation.12 Procreation must be linked both
biologically and spiritually to the parents, made one by the bond of marriage through the
conjugal act.13 The conjugal act is a simultaneous and immediate cooperation on the part of the
husband and wife, which expresses the mutual gift which brings about union in one flesh (Gn
2:24, Mt 19:5, Mk 10:8, 1 Cor 6:16, Eph 5:31). If technical means assist in performing the
conjugal act or in reaching its natural objectives, then they can be morally acceptable. But, if
they replace the conjugal act, then they are morally illicit.14 A child is a gift of marriage, not an
object to which someone has a right.15

In vitro fertilization frequently involves the deliberate destruction of embryos. All techniques in
the in vitro process treat the human embryo as simply a mass of cells to be used, selected and
discarded. While a third of women who submit to artificial procreation have a baby, the number
of embryos sacrificed is extremely high.16 In many cases, the abandonment, destruction and loss
of embryos are foreseen and willed. Defective embryos are directly discarded.17

Regarding surrogacy, every child has a right to be formed using only a natural process, fully
human, and not artificially induced. Surrogacy causes the child to be a mere object, subject to
human trafficking. Surrogacy also represents a grave violation of the dignity of the woman as
well as the child because it exploits the situation of the mother’s material needs. A child is
always a gift, and it should never be the basis of a commercial contract. The natural process of
conjugal union and of human procreation provides the child with the gift of life that manifests
the dignity of both the giver and the receiver. “The legitimate desire to have a child cannot be
transformed into a ‘right to a child’ that fails to respect the dignity of the child as the recipient of
the gift of life.” Surrogacy violates the dignity of the woman whether she is coerced or if she
freely chooses it. The woman is detached from the child growing within her and she becomes
the means of the gain or desire of others. She becomes the instrument for another rather than the
individual involved in the natural process designed by God to create new life.18

Selective reduction, or embryo reduction – if too many fertilized eggs attach to the uterus, is
basically abortions to those not wanted.19 Testing of embryos and destruction of defection ones
is another problem with the process, resulting in selective abortions of defective embryos.20
Human embryos obtained in vitro are human beings the same as any other human being.21
Research and experimentation on human embryos are also considered illicit. Even dead fetuses
must be respected the same as any other human remains.22

The Church therefore rules against in vitro fertilization (IVF) because it goes against the three
principles of procreation: it often compromises that deep respect due to all human life at any
stage of development, it often involves a third party outside the unity of the marriage spouses,
and it involves creation of human life outside the natural process of the conjugal act. It can be
likened to the birth of Ishmael (Gn 16:1-16, Gal 4:21-31), where Abram had relations with his
wife’s maidservant, Hagar. The result is a division within the marital relationship and later
dismissal of Ishmael from the family (Gn 21:14). However, once the child was born, we also see
respect for the dignity of the child born, where God promises Ishmael to make a nation of him
(Gn 21:13). We see natural law, or nature’s law, come into play. Just as no artificial means
should be used to contracept the natural birth of a child, so too, no means should be used to
replace the natural conjugal act, which brings together the two spouses as one loving couple
cooperating (Gn 4:1, 1:28, 9:1, 7, 35:11) with God in his creative nature.

John Carberry is the author of Parables: Catholic Apologetics Through Sacred Scripture (2003),
Sacraments: Signs, Symbols and Significance (2023).
1 Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), Dignitas Personae [Dignity of a Person], (Vatican City: Holy See, 2008), 12.
2 Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF), Dignitas Infinita [Infinite Dignity], Declaration on Human Dignity (Vatican City: Holy See Press Office, 2024), 11, 47. CDF, Dignitas Personae [Dignity of a Person], 1, 4-5. John Paul II,
Evangelium Vitae (Gospel of Life), an Encyclical on the Value and Inviolability of Human Life (Vatican City: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1995), 3, 20, 58-63 & 81. CDF, Donum Vitae [The Gift of Life], Instruction on Respect for Human Life in Its Origin and on the Dignity of Procreation Replies to Certain Questions of the Day, (Vatican City: Vatican Press, 1987), Intro, 2-5. Paul VI, Humanae Vitae (On Human Life), (Vatican City: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1968), 14. Francis, Evangelii Guadium (Joy of the Gospel), An Apostolic Exhortation on the Proclamation of the Gospel in Today’s World, (Vatican City: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2013), 213.
3 DDF, Dignitas Infinita [Infinite Dignity], 7.
4 DDF, Dignitas Infinita [Infinite Dignity], 9.
5 CDF, Dignitas Personae [Dignity of a Person], 7-8.
6 CDF, Donum Vitae [The Gift of Life], II., A. 1.
7 Vatican Council II, Gaudium et Spes (Joy and Hope), [A Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World], (Vatican City, Vatican Council Docuмents, 1965), 51. Paul VI, Humanae Vitae (On Human Life), 24. CDF, Donum Vitae [The Gift of Life], II., B. 4. a.
8 CDF, Dignitas Personae [Dignity of a Person], 6.
9 CDF, Dignitas Personae [Dignity of a Person], 9.
10 CDF, Dignitas Personae [Dignity of a Person], 12-13.
11 CDF, Dignitas Personae [Dignity of a Person], 16.
12 CDF, Donum Vitae [The Gift of Life], II., B. 4. a.
13 CDF, Donum Vitae [The Gift of Life], II., B. 4. b. & c.
14 DDF, Dignitas Infinita [Infinite Dignity], 48-50. CDF, Donum Vitae [The Gift of Life], II., B. 6.
15 DDF, Dignitas Infinita [Infinite Dignity], 48-50. CDF, Donum Vitae [The Gift of Life], II., B. 8.
16 CDF, Dignitas Personae [Dignity of a Person], 14.
17 CDF, Dignitas Personae [Dignity of a Person], 15, 18-19.
18 DDF, Dignitas Infinita [Infinite Dignity], 48-50. CDF, Donum Vitae [The Gift of Life], II., A. 2 - 3.
19 CDF, Dignitas Personae [Dignity of a Person], 21.
20 CDF, Dignitas Personae [Dignity of a Person], 22.
21 CDF, Donum Vitae [The Gift of Life], I., 5.
22 CDF, Donum Vitae [The Gift of Life], I., 4 and III. John Paul II, Evangelium Vitae (Gospel of Life), 14, 63.