I’m a priest in an Anglican Church. I am counseling a couple in my church that have been struggling with infertility. They are considering different fertility treatments, possibly IVF, and are asking about the moral and ethical implications of such a treatment. How should I advise them?
Infertility can be a difficult and painful issue for many couples, and there aren’t always easy answers. While in-vitro fertilization has led to a great number of successful pregnancies, selective fetal reduction is often required in IVF, necessitating the abortion of multiple children to lower the risk of pregnancy complications, an obvious ethical problem for life-affirming people. Recently, NaProTechnology has been gaining popularity and has seen successful treatment of infertility, by seeking to address the actual problem causing the infertility without requiring fetal reduction or causing a loss of life in any way. Encourage this couple to look into this treatment. Doctors who would be willing to work with them can be found here.