Lee, P., & Tham, J. (2021). Catholic Approaches to Procreation and Infertility. Religion and Human Rights, 19-28. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-86938-0_3
Lee P, Tham J. Catholic Approaches to Procreation and Infertility. Religion and Human Rights. 2021:19-28. doi:10.1007/978-3-030-86938-0_3
Lee, P., and J. Tham. "Catholic Approaches to Procreation and Infertility." Religion and Human Rights, 2021, pp. 19-28.
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Catholic chapter argues NaProTechnology fits its ethics over IVF
A 2021 Catholic ethics chapter by Lee and Tham argues that NaProTechnology fits Catholic teaching on life, marriage, and sexuality better than IVF. The chapter reports no new data. The authors say evidence on NaProTechnology's effectiveness is thin.
Key Findings
The chapter applies three criteria from the Church document Dignitas Personae: right to life and physical integrity, unity of marriage, and the specifically human values of sexuality.
The authors say IVF falls short on the first criterion because embryos are lost, frozen, or discarded, and selective reduction of embryos can follow multiple transfers.
The chapter cites a report that over 41% of IVF pregnancies in the USA were multiple births in 2013.
The chapter cites a study finding that only 1% of UK fertility clinics list adverse events on their websites, and only 21% list multiple births or pregnancy rates.
The authors count two research papers on NaProTechnology's effectiveness, both retrospective, and call the lack of randomized controlled studies a chief drawback.
Interpretation
The chapter is a narrative ethics argument. The authors argue from Catholic teaching and cite literature on outcomes and risks. They ran no study and analyzed no data. The multiple-birth figure comes from a newspaper report. The authors say comparing pregnancy rates across studies is difficult because age, duration of infertility, and population differ. The chapter shows how one ethical tradition weighs the two approaches and leaves relative effectiveness to other research.
RRM Context
Restorative reproductive medicine begins by finding why conception fails and cooperating with the body's function. The chapter describes NaProTechnology, developed by Dr. Thomas W. Hilgers at the Pope Paul VI Institute, as one method built on that logic, alongside the Creighton Model. The chapter grounds its moral case for restoration in Catholic teaching. The clinical evidence for restorative methods stands in its own literature.
Our editorial summary of this paper, not the article's abstract.
Abstract
Infertility is a worldwide problem today. The more conventional approach of medicine would be to diagnose the causes and correct them, so that the fertility potential of the couple would permit them to conceive naturally. However, since the advance of Assisted Reproductive Technologies, it has become a lucrative industry that seek to help anyone to procure a child. Lately, natural procreative processes such as NaProTechnology have arisen that can restore couples’ fertility potential through proper diagnosis and treatment. The Catholic Church prefers these latter approaches not only because they are truer to the nature of medical practice, but because they are more consistent with a healthy vision of human sexuality, procreation, and marriage.
La progresiva medicalización de la infertilidad en las últimas tres décadas se corresponde con una creciente difusión de las Tecnologías de Reproducción Asistida (TRA), que han dejado en la sombra, casi por completo, otros enfoques más fisiológicos del tratamiento de la infertilidad, que tienen menos riesgos, son más económicos y, a la vez, igualmente efectivos. Este trabajo presenta un enfoque sistemático e integrado: la NaProTecnología (NPT), que tiene como objetivo optimizar las condiciones fisiológicas en cada ciclo menstrual, para permitir, de esta forma, una concepción por métodos naturales. Este método se postula como una mejor solución para el tratamiento de la infertilidad, desde un punto de vista que no sólo es más ético, sino que, además, es compatible con otros puntos de vistas religiosos, médicos, sociales, legales y ambientales. Los gobiernos deberían promover y financiar la NPT y, al mismo tiempo, las sociedades médicas y científicas deberían diseñar estudios para comparar de una manera justa la tasa de éxito, los costos y las complicaciones de la NPT en contraposición al método TRA tradicional.
This paper looks at the ethics of assisted reproductive technology (ART) from the perspective of the Catholic Church. The three criteria of evaluation of the ethics of ART are the right to life and physical integrity of human beings, the unity of marriage, and the value of human sexuality. The paper examines the arguments based on these criteria carefully, as they apply to in vitro fertilization which is the most common ART method. It concludes that most ART methods would be unacceptable, but there are new alternatives like NaProTechnology that is promising for infertile couples.
Radkowska-Walkowicz M, 2014·Czech Sociol Rev·Free to read
In Poland, invitro fertilisation technology (IVF) has been in use for over 25 years, garnering success and social approval. However, in 2007, a heated debate erupted on the moral, legal and economic aspects of IVF. A growing chorus of emphatic Catholic voices calls for IVF to be banned. This paper focuses on 'naprotechnology', a new actor and a fresh card in Poland's IVF debate. This method of treating infertility in accordance with the teachings of the Catholic Church is promoted as a cheaper and more effective alternative to IVF. Naprotechnology is primarily based on close observation of the female fertility cycle, but also involves pharmacological or surgical treatments. Most Polish gynecologists specialising in infertility treatments are strongly critical of the method, which is seldom referenced in international medical literature. Nonetheless, naprotechnology has considerable exposure in major Polish media outlets. The method has been debated in the Polish Parliament and is promoted by many politicians. The author argues that, despite the possible perception of naprotechnology as an emancipating force, it is in fact a form of a colonisation of the female body and strengthens traditional gender imagery and modern forms of discipline (control, confession, body regimes).
The article raises the issue of today’s application of assisted (artificial) reproduction methods, which are incom-patible with human dignity. The authors articulate the principles of human dignity, which are formulated as an evaluation tool of criteria and them revealing system of indicators in the assessed object. The article compares Naprotechnology as a contemporary holistic method of diagnosis and treatment of infertility, which comprises therapeutic, surgical and fertility awareness method, with methods of assisted reproduction and identifies their medical and ethical differences. The project of the Assisted Reproduction Law of the Republic of Lithuania is evaluated in the aspect of human dignity as well.
Turczynski C et al., 2022·Linacre Q·Free full text on PubMed Central
This article is a case study illuminating the experience of a cradle Catholic who pursued a career in the field of Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) as a laboratory director and embryologist. Twenty years after leaving the field, the observations leading to the crisis of conscience are further amplified by the reports of social, legal, ethical, and medical consequences of the technology. These consequences are explored in detail and can serve as a mini-review of the published scientific literature describing the obstetrical complications, peri-natal outcomes, and the long-term health effects on the offspring. This paper provides the documented evidence that can be used by the religious and medical community for shepherding the flock. The disordered approach to patient care is evidenced by five serious consequences resulting from the use of the technology. These include multiple pregnancy and selective reduction, abandoned and discarded embryos, adverse health effects to the women and children, legal and ethical problems, and human experimentation. An explanation for the adverse consequences can be found by exploring and applying the principles of Natural Law. Natural Law, as embraced by the Catholic Church, can be used as a starting point for conversion of heart for many who struggle with the immorality of ART. Deterring use of the technology coupled with increased motivation by scientist and health professionals to pursue restorative approaches within a moral framework offer our best solution to the treatment of infertility. Natural Law and the consequences of violating it provide evidence that science and medicine should not be practiced in a vacuum void of ethical and moral boundaries grounded in divine Wisdom.
Restorative Care and Assisted Reproduction · Outcome Comparisons
Dowbór-Dzwonka A et al., 2012·Zdr Publ·Free to read
Infertility is a significant and constantly increasing individual and social problem. It is estimated that at present it affects approx. 15 to 20 percent of couples. Inability to conceive a child elicits a range of unfavourable implications in the scope of emotional experiences, in the partner’s relationship and in a broader social perspective. Making a decision on undergoing diagnostics and infertility treatment is a difficult and often postponed moment for many couples. This is an expression of the escape model of dealing with a situation that threatens with a fall of self-esteem. However, if a couple reacts in a task-oriented way and participates in the diagnostic and therapeutic procedure, new doubts appear connected with the medical, psychological, social and ethical sphere. Infertility treatment sometimes prompts fear connected with the stripping of intimacy, loss of control over one’s body, possible complications and unsuccessful therapy. This article is an analysis of the medical and the other aspects of struggling with infertility with reference to two extremely different methods of solving this NaProTechnology as a process of assisting natural procreation and assisted reproductive techniques with a special consideration of in vitro fertilization.
Ethics and Policy › Reproductive Ethics › Third Party Reproduction · Restorative Reproductive Medicine › Philosophy and Principles › Root Cause Approach
Paul Lee, Joseph Tham
P Lee, Joe Tham, Joey Tham, J Tham
DOI 10.1007/978-3-030-86938-0_3 10.1007/978-3-030-86938-0_3 Lee et al. 2021, Lee 2021
Cite this article
Lee, P., & Tham, J. (2021). Catholic Approaches to Procreation and Infertility. Religion and Human Rights, 19-28. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-86938-0_3
Lee P, Tham J. Catholic Approaches to Procreation and Infertility. Religion and Human Rights. 2021:19-28. doi:10.1007/978-3-030-86938-0_3
Lee, P., and J. Tham. "Catholic Approaches to Procreation and Infertility." Religion and Human Rights, 2021, pp. 19-28.
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