Fr. Francesco Giordano: From Gift to Product: The Logic of IVF, Abortion, Eugenics, and Transhumanism

A few definitions will help at the outset. By IVF, or in vitro fertilization, I mean the generation of human embryos outside the body, ordinarily in a laboratory setting, with later transfer to the womb (Donum Vitae II.B; Dignitas Personae 12–18). By abortion, I mean the deliberate termination of the life of the unborn child (Evangelium Vitae 58, 62; Dignitas Infinita 47). By eugenics, I mean the effort to improve the human population by selecting for some lives and excluding or eliminating others, whether by public policy or private technique (Dignitas Personae 22; Evangelium Vitae 14, 63). And by transhumanism, I mean the modern project of overcoming the given limits of human nature through technology, whether by enhancement, redesign, or the technical remaking of the body itself (International Theological Commission, Quo vadis, humanitas? 46–49).