(Catholic World News) — The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has published an updated version of its 2020 resource, “Reproductive Technology, Evaluation and Treatment of Infertility: Guidelines for Catholic Couples.”
The guidelines list seven technologies compatible with Catholic teaching, seven technologies in disagreement with Catholic teaching, and one technology under discussion (intrauterine insemination). The resource also offers a “rule of thumb”:
Procedures that remove obstacles to natural fertility and which assist marital intercourse in reaching its procreative potential are morally acceptable. Procedures which add a “third party” into the act of conception or gestation, or which substitute a laboratory procedure for intercourse, are not morally acceptable.
The guidelines were written by Sister Hannah Klaus, MD and updated in consultation with the National Catholic Bioethics Center.
Catholicism.org note: In vitro fertilization (IVF) is listed among the technologies deemed, “Reproductive Technologies in Disagreement with Catholic Teachings (wrong).”
