IVF is...

Sometimes I'm slow. A friend sent me a link to a CNN report on military wives supplementing their income by becoming surrogate mothers for couples using IVF. It suddenly struck me. That's prostitution! Think about it. I'll let a stranger have the use of my reproductive organs for money.  What's the difference between that and prostitution? The ends? The intention? Haven't you heard that "the end does not justify the means"? Ever wonder where that came from? The catechism of the Catholic Church teaches:

1750 The morality of human acts depends on:
- the object chosen;
- the end in view or the intention;
- the circumstances of the action.
The object, the intention, and the circumstances make up the "sources," or constitutive elements, of the morality of human acts.
1753 A good intention (for example, that of helping one's neighbor) does not make behavior that is intrinsically disordered, such as lying and calumny, good or just. The end does not justify the means. Thus the condemnation of an innocent person cannot be justified as a legitimate means of saving the nation.

Of course, I'm going to hear the usual flak about how the Catholic church doesn't know everything (or anything) and that I am a mindless robot to read this crap. Thank you. Now open your eyes and your mind and consider the rest of this post.

My realization of this aspect of IVF isn't new or original, nor is it the only problem with IVF. A recent interview with a doctor I heard mentioned that including pre-implantation "selection" and post-implantation "selection" (aka eugenic abortion) ten babies are killed for every one delivered using IVF. So we have parents who want a baby so badly they will kill ten of their own children to have one. As a society we are shifting to a mentality where a baby is not a person for whose life you are responsible, but a possession whose purpose is to give you pleasure. IVF is slavery.

Some other things I found out about IVF. Outsourcing Baby-making in India (HT SHS) speaks of the suffering caused by "biological colonialism" or "reproductive tourism".  Another term for that is human trafficking.

There are also numerous IVF "errors", the worst of which we sometimes hear of in the media. In the case mentioned the couple decided to keep the baby (possibly because the only known difference was the blood type). Many do not, adding to the killing. IVF is eugenics.

Finally, I came across this article on research demonstrating that IVF is a factor in cerebral palsy (not associated with, but a cause). From the article:

IVF could more than double the rate of cerebral palsy, according to research from Denmark. In an article in the journal Human Reproduction, epidemiologist Jin Lieang Zhu says that the association between IVF and the disorder is well-known. But it was not clear whether the real cause was the underlying infertility or IVF procedures. His research, based on 90,000 children born between 1997 and 2003, demonstrates that something about IVF itself must be the reason. [emphasis mine]

IVF is dangerous.

I would hope that if you are considering IVF or know someone who is and you got this far you will actually read the articles above first, and consider whether it is worth so many lives and risks to have a baby that's (partly) "yours" instead of adopting a baby that needs them. For that matter, if you do not want to try adoption, consider NFP fertility methods rather than IVF. NFP is 100% natural (no drugs or surgery), can be extremely effective and has no side effects. Why doesn't your doctor suggest it? Why does she disparage it when it can help you? Because she doesn't make any money from it.

Posted in: abortion,adoption,IVF,Medicine,NFP