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Reproductive Technologies

Reproductive Technologies. Reproductive Ethics. You’re the Counselor!!—Case 6.1 How would you counsel a couple who had come to you for advice on dealing with infertility? Emotional Factors Moral Issues. Different Technologies to Make a Baby. Inter-Uterine Insemination By Husband

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Reproductive Technologies

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  1. Reproductive Technologies

  2. Reproductive Ethics • You’re the Counselor!!—Case 6.1 • How would you counsel a couple who had come to you for advice on dealing with infertility? • Emotional Factors • Moral Issues

  3. Different Technologies to Make a Baby • Inter-Uterine Insemination • By Husband • By Donor (also egg donation) • In Vitro Fertilization Family • GIFT (Gamete Intrafallopian Transfer), Z(zygote)IFT, IVF • Surrogate Motherhood • ICSI (Sperm Injection)

  4. Types of Surrogate Motherhood • Genetic--surrogate provides egg and womb • Gestational--surrogate only provides womb • Commercial--done for a $10,000-50,000 fee plus expenses • Altruistic--done for expenses only

  5. Theological Foundations • Medical Technology in Theological Perspective • Dominion Mandate (Gen. 1-2) • Impact of the Entrance of Sin • Stewardship over Creation • Place of General Revelation and Common Grace • Must Evaluate the Uses of Technology

  6. Theological Foundations • Genesis 1-2--The Context for Procreation • Permanent, monogamous, heterosexual marriage • Novel ways of procreation in the OT • Surrogacy • Levirate Marriage • Polygamy • Other “violations” of the norm in Genesis 1-2 • Divorce

  7. Theological Foundations • Use of Gen. 1-2 by NT Authors • Romans 1 • I Timothy 2 • I Cor. 11 • Matt. 19 • Conclusion---Genesis account of creation carries great weight with NT authors.

  8. Theological Foundations • Sacredness of Human Life--Being in the Image of God • Continuity of Personal Identity from Earliest Points of one’s life • Psalm 139, Psalm 51 (Exodus 21: 22-25) • Doctrine of the Incarnation • Embryos and Biblical Teaching

  9. Moral Status of Fetuses and Embryos • Thesis: Personhood begins at conception • Common views of a person assume a continuity of personal identity from the earliest points of pregnancy • Personhood is a matter of essence, not function. Personhood is not a degreed property. • The difference between an embryo in the lab and and fetus in the womb is one of location

  10. Moral Status of Fetuses and Embryos • All adult persons are the result of a continuous process of development that begins at conception. • There is no ontologically or morally relevant break in the process from conception to birth. • Thus, one is a person from conception forward.

  11. Theological Parameters--Summary • Sanctity of Marriage • Sacredness of life from conception onward • “Be fruitful and multiply” • Rescuing the vulnerable • Adoption as the metaphor for our relationship with God • Technology a qualified good

  12. Catholic Reproductive Ethics • Key distinction: assisting vs. replacing normal sex in marriage • Inseparable connection between the “unitive” and “procreative” aspects of sex • “it is never permitted to separate these different aspects so such a degree as positively to exclude either the procreative intention or the conjugal relation.”

  13. Catholic Reproductive Ethics • Menopause?? • Scripture treats the unitive element of sex as a sufficient end (I Corinthians 7, Song of Solomon) • Rhythm Method of birth control could compromise this separation. • Genesis 1-2 require procreation in the sphere of marriage, not sexual relations.

  14. Case 6.2--for Discussion • Couple married 4 years. • Man infertile due to untreated mumps as a kid. • Wife wants a sperm donor so she can “have her own child.” • Husband is uneasy about having a procreative “pinch hitter.”

  15. Cases for Discussion • Couple married for 6 years. • Married when older so started trying to conceive immediately • Trying for 4 years. • Physician recommends an egg donor since wife is in her early 40’s.

  16. Questions About Specific Technologies • Problems with the IVF Family • Disposition of Leftover Embryos • Selective Termination of Pregnancies • Problems with Surrogate Motherhood • Is it the sale of children? • In gestational surrogacy, who is the mother? • Potential legal problems • Contested Custody • Genetic Abnormality

  17. Surrogacy Case-Case 6.3 • Couple married for 10 years, trying for 6 years • Conceived through IVF--triplets. • Miscarried the triplets and had massive uterine hemorrhage. • Underwent emergency hysterectomy • They have 5 embryos left in storage from IVF • They want to hire a surrogate to carry them

  18. The Brave New World • Human Procreative Cloning • Artificial Wombs • Fetal Egg Donors • Gender Selection • Designer Embryos • Postmenopausal Pregnancies • Brain Death and Pregnancy • Posthumous Procreation

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