Notice: Function _load_textdomain_just_in_time was called incorrectly. Translation loading for the mfn-opts domain was triggered too early. This is usually an indicator for some code in the plugin or theme running too early. Translations should be loaded at the init action or later. Please see Debugging in WordPress for more information. (This message was added in version 6.7.0.) in /nas/content/live/brownpelican/wp-includes/functions.php on line 6114 IVF and the Incarnation, by Adeline A. Allen – Brown Pelican Society of Lousiana
Adeline A. Allen is professor of law at Trinity Law School and an associate fellow at The Center for Bioethics & Human Dignity.
In the wake of the recent Alabama Supreme Court ruling on in vitro fertilization (IVF), much discussion has focused on the status of embryos on ice, many of whom are the so-called “surplus” embryos created in the IVF process. Are they persons? Don’t they deserve legal protection? We pro-lifers answer both questions in the affirmative. The more robust the defense of the least of these, our tiny brothers and sisters, the better.
But a harder question for many pro-lifers—especially non-Catholics who can’t appeal to the Church’s clear teaching against IVF in all circumstances—is whether IVF is alright when every embryo is implanted. In the best possible hypothetical scenario, a sincere, married Christian couple, unable to have children due to infertility, seeks to have children through IVF. They will discard no embryos at all, and will raise any resulting children lovingly in the Christian faith and community. Is not life a good thing? Are not children a blessing? Surely IVF is permissible if not a single embryo is destroyed, right? …
