Q. A fellow Catholic, who struggles with infertility, told me she has a right to children and was going to pursue in vitro fertilization. Is she correct to do so?
A. No. Children are supreme gifts from God – the fruits of marriage. However, an individual or couple does not have an absolute right to children.
God has designed the natural institution of marriage with two distinct purposes or ends—first, the unitive end, which includes the mutual love and respect of the partners as equals, and second, for the procreation, education and formation of children. (Genesis 2:24, Ephesians 5:31, Matt. 19:5)
These two ends, or purposes, of marriage are to be a part of everyday married life and are most clearly manifest in the act of marital sexual intercourse. Actions that violate the unitive or procreative purposes of marriage are sinful.
Thus, because in vitro fertilization violates the unitive or loving purpose of the marital act, it is immoral and sinful. Just because medical science allows conception outside of the conjugal act, does not make it right, because procedures in a medically controlled environment do injury to the very definition and understanding of marriage. The Catechism of the Catholic Church states: “The act [of in vitro fertilization] which brings the child into existence is no longer an act by which two persons give themselves to one another, but one that ‘entrusts the life and identity of the embryo into the power of doctors and biologists and establishes the domination of technology over the origin and destiny of the human person’” (CCC 2377).
Infertility is a heavy cross for some couples to bear. There are many morally acceptable interventions that married couples may use to overcome infertility. In fact, the Pope Paul VI Institute in Omaha is world-renowned in successfully assisting married couples in overcoming infertility using natural methods.
However, there is no right to “have children at any cost.” Thanks for the question.
This question was answered by a priest of the Diocese of Lincoln. Write to Ask the Register using our online form, or write to 3700 Sheridan Blvd., Suite 10, Lincoln NE 68506-6100. All questions are subject to editing. Editors decide which questions to publish. Personal questions cannot be answered. People with such questions are urged to take them to their nearest Catholic priest.
