Making Sense of Bioethics: Column #217 : Poking the Hornet’s Nest of IVF

IVF involves at least two major moral problems —the ‘collateral damage problem’ and the ‘intrinsic problem.

Rev. Tadeusz Pacholczyk, PhD—Director of EducationMarch 29, 2024Artificial Insemination, Embryos, Frozen Embryos, Imposing Our Beliefs, Infertility, In Vitro Fertilization, Law and Ethics

Making Sense of Bioethics: Column #216 : Surrogacy and Child Trafficking

Surrogacy involves a form of “trafficking” of children, implying that children are being bought and sold, treated as property and often transported across international borders, which, all in all, sums up many contemporary aspects of surrogacy.

Rev. Tadeusz Pacholczyk, PhD—Director of EducationFebruary 29, 2024In Vitro Fertilization, Parenting, Surrogacy, Infertility

Making Sense of Bioethics: Column 165: It’s Not Just About the Frozen Embryos

Through IVF, husband and wife use their own (or even another person’s) sex cells to become “donors”, while constructing their own offspring through a kind of programmed project, with the marital act no longer an essential part of the equation.

Rev. Tadeusz Pacholczyk, PhD—Director of EducationMarch 30, 2019Embryos, Frozen Embryos, In Vitro Fertilization, Infertility

Making Sense of Bioethics: Column 154: Cowboys, Infertility and Deeper Moral Questions

…we realize how the procreation of our own children is meant to involve a strict exclusivity between husband and wife.

Rev. Tadeusz Pacholczyk, PhD—Director of EducationApril 30, 2018Artificial Insemination, Embryos, In Vitro Fertilization, Infertility, Parenting, Banking of Sperm and Eggs

Making Sense of Bioethics: Column 145: Considering the Options for Infertile Couples

It can be helpful to keep in mind a particular “rule of thumb” for determining whether a procedure is morally acceptable: treatments that assist the marital act are permissible, while those that replace, or substitute for, the marital act raise serious moral objections.

Rev. Tadeusz Pacholczyk, PhD—Director of EducationJuly 30, 2017Infertility, In Vitro Fertilization, Artificial Insemination, Intrauterine Insemination, Marriage, Natural Family Planning (NFP), Pregnancy Complications

Making Sense of Bioethics: Column 140: How Does the Catholic Church Resolve New Bioethical Questions?

Many people appreciate that the Catholic Church holds firm and well-defined positions on moral questions, even if they may remain unsure about how or why the Church actually arrives at those positions, especially when it comes to unpacking new scientific developments like embryonic stem cell research.

Rev. Tadeusz Pacholczyk, PhD—Director of EducationFebruary 28, 2017Artificial Insemination, Cloning, Embryos, Infertility, In Vitro Fertilization, Science and Religion, Stem Cell Research, Universal Morality, Conscience, Research

Making Sense of Bioethics: Column 120: The Banking of Sperm and Eggs before Cancer Treatments

… if the egg harvesting step could be carried out with low risk to women, if the egg freezing process would not cause any deleterious effects on children who might later come into being, and if the eggs were only used for morally legitimate purposes like LTOT, freezing a woman’s eggs would appear to be morally allowable.

Rev. Tadeusz Pacholczyk, PhD—Director of EducationJune 30, 2015Banking of Sperm and Eggs, Intrauterine Insemination, In Vitro Fertilization, Artificial Insemination, Infertility

Making Sense of Bioethics: Column 045: Parental Desires, Children and IVF

Marital acts are a way of ‘petitioning the Giver for his gifts.’ By insisting on or demanding the gift (through in vitro fertilization), the child is no longer that ‘gift’ but a kind of entitlement or project to be realized.

Rev. Tadeusz Pacholczyk, PhD—Director of EducationMarch 30, 2009Infertility, In Vitro Fertilization, Parenting

Making Sense of Bioethics: Column 042: Germany and Italy Have Done It — Shouldn’t We?

In the United States today, we urgently need Embryo Protection Laws.

Rev. Tadeusz Pacholczyk, PhD—Director of EducationDecember 30, 2008Infertility, In Vitro Fertilization, Law and Ethics, Embryos, Frozen Embryos

“Making Sense of Bioethics” CMS