How Do You Respond to an IVF-Conceived Person? by Stacy Trasancos

Whenever I have spoken to groups about the Church’s teaching against in vitro fertilization (IVF), especially to groups of young people, someone always asks how to talk about this topic if there are people present who were themselves conceived in this way. The moral discussion about how IVF separates the unitive (love-making) from the procreative (life-giving) aspect of the conjugal act (marital sex) and how male and female gametes form an embryo in a petri dish all sounds like a condemnation of the child himself. It sounds like a cruel accusation that the child conceived in this way, produced like property instead of conceived in love, is somehow less than human or less deserving of respect as a person.

Of course, this is not true. The very basis of the argument against artificial procreation is that every human being, including an embryonic child, “must be respected—as a person—from the very first instant of his existence” (Donum vitae I.1). Rather than diminishing the IVF-conceived child, the Magisterium affirms the dignity and rights of that child. It is the part of society that supports and promotes IVF that neglects the rights of the embryonic child. The result of such opposed views, one that upholds the humanity of children from the first moment of their existence and the other that focuses on the desires of the parents, is that the IVF-conceived person is caught in the middle. It will be helpful, therefore, to examine the arguments. …

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