News

In vitro fertilization concerns are many

By Patricia Kasten
Compass Associate Editor

APPLETON -- Just because we have the technology to do something, should we do it?

That's the church's question about all assisted reproductive technologies (ART) for infertile married couples. In vitro fertilization (IVF) is the most common method of ART.

Approximately 120 people gathered at Appleton's Xavier High School May 30 to hear the church's position on IVF at a seminar sponsored by Elizabeth Ministry, a peer ministry for women and families. Besides looking at the church's concerns with IVF, there was information on technologies that can help couples have a baby.

"Infertility is a very lonely road to be on," said Jeannie Hannemann, founder of Elizabeth Ministry, citing recent Center for Disease Control statistics that infertility affects one in five U.S. couples. "And no one should be on it alone."

Hannemann and her husband, Bruce, suffered infertility for eight years before having their first child. (They now have two adult daughters.)

"You'd do anything for a child," Hannemann said. "Anything!"

"I used to say," she added, "that if they said I could have had a child if I cut off my right arm, I would have cut off the left, too, just to be sure."

So she understands the lengths to which married couples will go to in their quest for a baby. And yet, she said, technologies like IVF are not the answer and can do more harm than good. The concerns about IVF include:

• Discarded and frozen excess embryos;

• Selective culling (abortion) of excess embryos in the womb;

• Abortions because of potential birth defects;

• Increased birth defects in newborn IVF babies;

• Turning babies into commodities;

• High costs of the procedures;

• And, surprisingly, a potential of increased infertility and even permanent sterility in the women involved.

Finally, Hannemann said, we cannot forget that procedures like IVF remove couples from each other's embrace at the sacred moment when a new life is created.

"Love making and life making should never be separated," Hannemann said.

There are reproductive technologies that "assist but not replace the conjugal act," said Fr. John Doerfler, diocesan chancellor.

One is NaProTechnology, developed by Dr. Thomas Hilgers, an ob-gyn and director at the Pope Paul VI Institute for the Study of Human Reproduction in Omaha.

Dr. Michelle Lopez, a family practice physician in Neenah, has been trained in NaProTechnology. She said it looks at the root cause of infertility - which affects men and women equally - and work to fix the problem and achieve fertility.

"Many couples - about 60% - can conceive with just medical assessment," she said. Another 20% are able to have a live birth after corrective surgery.

For couples who are able to conceive, but wish to practice family planning, there is Natural Family Planning (NFP), which uses the same basis - a couple's natural fertility process - to help couples plan pregnancies.

"In the question of reproductive technology," Fr. Doerfler said, "the bottom line is being like God. That's the aim of the church's teaching - to help us be like God and to share in the intimacy of the Trinity."

(For more information on NaProTechnology, contact Elizabeth Ministry at (920) 731-3031, or visit www.naprotechnology.com. For lists of practitioners of NaProTechnology and NFP, visit One More Soul at www.omsoul.com.)