Facts 15

Topics Covered

(1) Causes of Infertility

(2) Assisted Reproductive Techniques

(3) Prenatal Genetic Diagnoses (PGDs)

(4) Morality of ARTs

(5) The Transhumanist/Re-Creationist Movement

Infertility ― Couples who cannot conceive a child within one year of trying.

Subfertility ― Couples who can conceive a child, but it takes longer than one year to be successful.

In the “developed” countries, one in six couples face significant problems with infertility, subfertility or with giving birth.

Definitions

Extended exposure to hormones (rarely mentioned in the literature!);

Environmental ― Diet, stress and weight; Endometriosis; Pituitary or ovarian tumors; Blocked Fallopian tubes (infection, often

caused by induced abortion, PID, STDs or IUD);

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS); Underactive thyroid; and Erratic ovulation.

Causes of Female Fertility Problems

Causes of Male Fertility Problems

Malfunctioning prostate; Hormone imbalance; Environmental pollutants; Infections; Use of illegal drugs; Deficient apoptosis; Medical interventions (chemo, antibiotics); Immune system problems; and Defective or abnormal sperm.

Is There a “Right” to a Child?

“A true and proper right to a child would be contrary to the child's dignity and nature. The child is not an object to which one has a right, nor can he be considered as an object of ownership:

rather, a child is a gift, "the supreme gift" and the most gratuitous gift of marriage, and is a living testimony of the mutual giving of his parents. For this reason, the child has the right to be the fruit of the specific act of the conjugal love of his parents; and he also has the right to be respected as a person from the moment of his conception.”

― Donum Vitae II,8.

Donum Vitae on Infertility

“Spouses who find themselves in this sad situation are called to find in it an opportunity for sharing in a particular way in the Lord's Cross. … even when procreation is not possible, conjugal life does not for this reason lose its value. Physical sterility in fact can be for spouses the occasion for other important services to the life of the human person, for example, adoption, various forms of educational work, and assistance to other families and to poor or handicapped children.”

― Donum Vitae II,8.

General History of ARTs

• 1790 ― First artificial insemination in humans

• 1934 ― First animal IVF by Gregory Pincus

• 1944 ― First human IVF by John Rock• 1978 ― First IVF baby born, result of

abortionist Patrick Steptoe’s efforts with Roberts Edwards

• Both Pincus and Rock were OC pioneers

“These interventions are not to be rejected on the grounds that they are artificial. As such, they bear witness to the possibilities of the art of medicine. But they must be given a moral evaluation in reference to the dignity of the human person, who is called to realize his vocation from God to the gift of love and the gift of life.”

― Donum Vitae [Introduction, 3].

General Catholic Teaching on ARTs

Donum Vitae: Five Guidelinesto Safeguard against Abuses

(1) All assisted reproductive procedures should be performed upon married couples only, in order to provide the best environment for the child [II,A,2].(2) The wife must contribute the egg and the husband must contribute the sperm, in order to avoid what is called “technological adultery” [II,A,2].

Donum Vitae: Five Guidelinesto Safeguard against Abuses

(3) Masturbation must not be required, since it is an abuse of the sexual faculty [II,B,6]. (4) Fertilization must take place inside the woman's body in order to preserve the unitive aspect of marriage [II,B,4,c].(5) "Spare" embryos must not be discarded, frozen, or experimented upon, or killed [I,5].

Maternal Hazards Due to IVF ―Ovarian Hyperstimulation Syndrome (OHS)

Overstimulation causes excess abdominal fluid.

5-40 follicles develop due to fertility drugs. Ovaries respond to elevated hormone levels by

becoming swollen and painful. Increased risk of torsion of the enlarged

ovaries.

Causes ascites and electrolyte imbalances.

Vascular, respiratory and renal system

impacts.

Occasionally there are fatal complications.

Several embryos are implanted to ensure pregnancy.

Increases mortality and morbidity for the mother and the babies. The usual “solution” proposed ― what is euphemistically called “pregnancy reduction,” with its own risks.

Increased incidence of birth defects and early hospitalization.

Leads to a number of risks to the health of both mothers and their babies, such as preterm birth, low birth weight, long-term disability, and early death.

Maternal Hazards Due to IVF ―Risks Associated with Multiple Pregnancies

When in vitro fertilization treatment is not successful, the couple’s hopes are dashed. They often have unrealistic expectations.

Disappointment, feelings of helplessness, loss, guilt, and relationship tension is common.

Sadness, anger, and depression is more prevalent in women than it is in men (66% vs. 40% reported).

Couples feel cheated after enduring the expensive IVF treatment and having nothing to show for it.

Couple’s Hazards Due to IVF ― Psychological

Significantly higher VLBW (very low birth weight) among single IVF babies, which leads to further risks.

Significantly higher birth defect rate among single and multiple-birth IVF babies.

Only 7.5% of embryos initially created are born alive.

Cardiovascular defects: Ventricular and atrial septal defects, and tetralogy of Fallot.

Musculoskeletal problems: Upper limb defects, including accessory digits, webbed, fused, or missing digits, lobster claw hand, and phocomelia of the upper limb.

Child’s Hazards Due to IVF

Feelings of alienation if resulting children find out that they are the product of donor sperm or egg.

Many IVF clinics make their clients sign a contract requiring abortion if the baby is less than perfect.

Survivor syndrome in those children who discover that they survived “selective reduction,” or “coin toss abortion.”

Of course, the deadliest hazard is the “pregnancy reduction” procedure itself.

Child’s Hazards Due to IVF ―Risks Associated with Multiple Pregnancies

“Selective Reduction” or “Enhanced Survivalof Multifetal Pregnancies“ (ESMP)

“Using ultra‑sound to locate each fetus, the doctors insert a needle into the chest cavity of the most accessible fetus and place the needle tip directly into the heart of the baby. Potassium chloride is then injected into the heart and the heart is viewed on the ultrasound screen until it stops beating. Even at 9 weeks, 3 of the 12 fetuses selected for elimination presented problems. The heart continued to beat and the procedure had to be repeated” [NEJM, 1988].

The Consumerist AttitudeTowards Human Life

“If I had conceived these twins naturally, I wouldn’t have reduced this pregnancy, because you feel like if there’s a natural order, then you don’t want to disturb it. But we created this child in such an artificial manner — in a test tube, choosing an egg donor, having the embryo placed in me — and somehow, making a decision about how many to carry seemed to be just another choice. The pregnancy was all so consumerish to begin with, and this became yet another thing we could control.”

― “Jenny.”

What Price Perfection?What Price Perfection?

“Doctors who participate in in-vitro fertilization should be present at the birth of all of their babies so that they may terminate the [newborn] baby's life should it come out grossly abnormal.”

― Nobel Prize winner James Watson.

One of the Next Steps in ART Development

Scientists at the Reproductive Genetic Institute in Chicago have developed a way for two women to be genetically related to the child, without the involvement of a man.

The procedure involves manipulating one of the women's eggs into an 'artificial’ sperm, and using it to fertilize the other egg, making both the women genetically parents of that child.

IVF for Population Control

“There are grounds for hoping that the use of IVF embryos for research will lead to the discovery of efficient new methods of population control. This is the real justification for the promotion and funding of IVF by governments and organizations involved in population planning.“

― The International Population Union’s Conference on the Scientific Study of Population.

Some Other Impermissible Procedures


Transvaginal Intratubal Embryo Transfer (TIET);Transvaginal Transmyometrial Embryo Transfer (TTET);Transvaginal Tubal Embryo State Transfer (TV-TEST);Tubal Embryo Stage Transfer (TEST).

― These procedures involve manipulation of the human embryo, which often involves specific risks that are far beyond those experienced by the embryo after natural fertilization. We do not have the right to cause the embryo to undergo these risks.


Zygote Intrafallopian Transfer (ZIFT); Intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI); Tubal transfer procedures (pronuclear- stage transfer (16-20 hours after insemination) and tubal embryo transfer (~48 hours after insemination); and Surrogate motherhood.

― Donum Vitae [II.B.5] and

Dignitas Personae [17].

Intra-Cytoplasmic Sperm Injection (ICSI)

• Sperm is injected directly into the eggs in a laboratory.

• Used if infertility originates from the male such as:– Low numbers of sperm– Severe Teratospermia

At this Rate, It Will Soon Takea Village to Conceive a Child!

DS (donor sperm): 2 fathers and 1 mother

DO (donor ovum): 2 mothers and 1 father

DE (donor embryo): 2 fathers and 2 mothers

SET (surrogate embryo transfer):

1 father and 2 mothers; or

2 fathers and 2 mothers; or

2 fathers and 3 mothers

Parthenogenesis: 1 mother and no father.

Surrogate Motherhood (donor womb)• Surrogate motherhood is a kind of high-tech

"reproductive prostitution:”

• The woman sells or rents her body or body parts;

• The relationship to the "customer" is entirely impersonal;

• She must do what she is told and leave when she is told;

• Her value or usefulness comes solely from her function; and

• The “pimp” [i.e., the doctor], gets most of the money. This is a business.

Donum Vitae on Surrogate Motherhood

“… it is contrary to the unity of marriage and to the dignity of the procreation of the human person. Surrogate motherhood represents an objective failure to meet the obligations of maternal love, of conjugal fidelity and of responsible motherhood; it offends the dignity and the right of the child to be conceived, carried in the womb, brought into the world and brought up by his own parents; it sets up, to the detriment of families, a division between the physical, psychological and moral elements which constitute those families” [II,A,3].

The Media Gets it Righton Surrogate Motherhood

“If surrogacy ever becomes a widely practiced market transaction, it will probably make pregnancy into just another dirty task for the working class, with wages driven down and wealthy couples hiring the work out because it's such a hassle to be pregnant.”

― The Wall Street Journal.

Summary ― Three Basic Principles

1. Evil may never be committed in order to achieve a good end.

2. A method of assisted reproduction is acceptable only if it serves as a means to facilitate or help the act of intercourse in attaining fertilization. It is not acceptable if it substitutes for the sexual act itself.

3. The Church teaches that homologous procedures may be permissible, but heterologous procedures, which involve the third-party donation of either sperm or ovum, are never morally permitted.

Why?

Why Not Heterologous Procedures?

The husband and wife have a reciprocal right to become parents only through each other;

Using sperm or ovum from a third party disregards the couple’s commitment to unity within their marriage;

Children have the right to know and be raised by their biological parents; and

Heterologous procedures can cause familial conflict, especially when children discover that their father or mother is not their biological parent.

Morally Acceptable ARTs

Start off charting cycles with NFP!

Micro-surgery (70%-80% successful).

Gamete (either sperm or sperm+egg) intra-fallopian transfer (SIFT and GIFT, no definitive ruling by the Church).

Low tube ovum transfer (LTOT). Relocation of an egg past the damaged portion of the fallopian tube so that fertilization occurs naturally.

Gamete Intra-Fallopian Transfer (GIFT)

Egg and sperm are placed into the Fallopian tube during a laparoscopy or by incision.

Fallopian tube sperm perfusion (FSP)

Intrauterine insemination (IUI)

Pronuclear stage tubal transfer (PROST)

Sub‑zonal insemination (SUZI)

Tubo‑ovarian transplantation (TOT)

Vaginal intratubal insemination (VITI)

Zona pellucida drilling and cutting

More Morally Acceptable ARTs

Persistent Legal Problems with IVF

IVF practice has been riddled with illegal activities, corruption and lack of oversight since the very beginning, including;

• Use of embryos without consent;• Inadequate informed consent;• Conflicts regarding control over stored gametes and

embryos;• Failure to routinely screen donors for disease;• Doctors inseminating their patients; and • Thievery and embezzlement.

The Transhumanism/Re-creationism MOVEMENT

Gandhi's "Seven Deadly Sins"

(1) Wealth without work;

(2) Pleasure without conscience;

(3) Knowledge without character;

(4) Commerce without morality;

(5) Science without humanity;

(6) Religion without sacrifice;

(7) Politics without principle.

"The development of technology and the development of contemporary civilization which is marked by the ascendancy of technology, demand a proportional development of morals and ethics. For the present, this last development seems unfortunately to be always left behind.”

― Albert Einstein.

The Attitude of ManyBioethicists and Scientists

"Scientists have the right to exercise their professional activities to the limit as lay attitudes struggle to catch up with what scientists can do.“

― Bioethicist Paul Ramsay.

The Attitude of ManyBioethicists and Scientists

Transhumanist Incrementalism(1) I want a baby.

(2) I want a healthy baby (negative eugenics).

(3) I want a boy/girl.

(4) I want a perfect baby (no imperfections).

(5) I want a baby just like me (cloning).

(6) I want a super baby made to order ― high

intelligence, athletic and artistic ability,

etc. (positive eugenics,

transhumanism).

The Paramount Principleof Transhumanism: Eugenics

Transhumanism is the ultimate expression of positive and negative eugenics, or self-directed evolution, which has been debated for millennia: "If we are to keep our [human] flock at the highest pitch of excellence, there should be as many unions of the best of both sexes, and as few of the inferior as possible, and ... only the offspring of the better unions should be kept ..." [Plato, Republic, c. 380 B.C.].

Its foundation will be the widespread and ultimately mandatory use of implementation of artificial reproductive technologies.

“Transhumanists view human nature as a work-in-progress, a half-baked beginning that we can learn to remold in desirable ways. Current humanity need not be the endpoint of evolution. Transhumanists hope that by responsible use of science, technology, and other rational means we shall eventually manage to become posthuman, beings with vastly greater capacities than present human beings have.”

― “Human Genetic Enhancements:

A Transhumanist Perspective.”

The Transhumanist View of Man

"What is man that thou art mindful of him, or the son of man, that thou carest for him? Thou didst make him for a little while lower than the angels, thou hast crowned him with glory and honor, putting everything in subjection under his feet." ― St. Paul to the Hebrews, 2:6-8.

The Christian View of Man

Beware the “Transhumanist Trap!”

• Therapy: To replace an amputated limb with a prosthetic limb in order to restore a lost function.

• Enhancement: To deliberately amputate a healthy limb and replace it with an artificial limb that is much stronger than the original

• The technology may be the same, but the intent is different. Transhumanists try to confuse the issue, saying that those who oppose transhumanism also oppose the use of technology as therapy. Therapy is not “transhumanism” just because it uses technology!

What is the Overall Goal?

"Here and now Homo Sapiens is in the process of becoming Homo Biologicus, a strange biped that will combine the properties of self‑reproduction without males, like the green fly; of fertilizing his female at long distance, like the nautiloid mollusk; of changing sex, like the xiphores; of growing from cuttings, like the earthworm; of replacing his missing parts, like the newt; of developing outside his mother's body, like the kangaroo; and of hibernating, like the hedgehog.”

― French biologist Jean Rostand.

Short-Term Goals ofTranshumanism/Re-Creationism

Extension of the human life span; Enhancement of mental and physical human

abilities (positive eugenics); Extracorporeal gestation (EG); and, of course,

Elimination of birth defects, first by eliminating the afflicted, then by genetic engineering.

Advertisement in the April 17, 2009 issue of The Tech, the student newspaper of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), page 16.

Prenatal Genetic Diagnoses (PGDs)

First Trimester Chorionic Villus Sampling (CVS) General First-Trimester ScreenSecond Trimester Amniocentesis Percutaneous Umbilical Blood Sampling (PUBS) Maternal Serum Alpha-Fetoprotein Screening Triple Screen and Quad ScreenThird Trimester Biophysical Profile Fetal Non-Stress Test (NST) Glucose Challenge Screening & Tolerance Test Group B Strep Infection (GBS)

“It appears highly likely that young couples, possibly those in the next generation, will be able to make choices about the genetic traits of their children that would astonish today's generation. As the genetic secrets of stature are uncovered, for example, couples would be able, if they desired, to select the height of their children within certain limits. As the gene mapping proceeds, other traits affecting intelligence, athletic or musical ability, even personality could become matters of parental choice.”

― Jerry E. Bishop and Michael Waldholz, Genome.

(1) Positive Eugenics: Ensuring that “superior” people and races “breed” with each other;

(2) Negative Eugenics: Ensuring that “inferior” people and races do not perpetuate their kind, through contraception, sterilization and abortion; and

(3) Reverse Eugenics: Deliberately ensuring that certain birth defects are perpetuated.

There are Three Eugenics Principles;

“Reverse eugenics”

at work

Institute for RegenerativeMedicine, Barbados

“Procedure room” in the IRM

Long-Term Goals ofTranshumanism/Re-Creationism

A sliding scale rights system; Lab-generated human life only; State-sponsored baby hatcheries; Replacement of natural limbs with prosthetics; Para-humans or chimeras (human-animal hybrids) and cyborgs (human-machine hybrids); Elimination of human individuality and sex; “Biotopia;” Group mind, or “singularity;” and, finally, Literal displacement/replacement of God.

Important Concept: Gender Subversion

“Postgenderism is a diverse social, political and cultural movement whose adherents affirm the voluntary elimination of gender in the human species through the application of advanced biotechnology and assistive reproductive technologies.”

“Postgenderism: Beyond the Gender Binary.”

"What if parents committed to gender equity counteracted the effect of testosterone on boys in the womb by complementing it with injections of artificial female hormones? Structural gender difference could be eradicated from the beginning. Such a policy would lead to men and women with normal bodies but identical feminine brains. War, rape, boxing, car racing, pornography and

Cluelessness on the Loose

hamburgers and beer would soon be distant memories. A feminist paradise would have arrived." — Andrew Sullivan.

Promotion of Transhumanism by the Elite

“It is reasonable to ask whether there will be a family at all. Given the propensity for divorce, the growing number of adults who choose to remain single, the declining popularity of having children and the evaporation of the time families spend together, another way may eventually evolve. It may be quicker and more efficient to dispense with family-based reproduction. Society could then produce its future generations in institutions that might resemble state-sponsored baby hatcheries ...”

―Time Magazine in 1992.

“Animals (including humans), will be granted rights based on varying degrees of personhood. ... When African grey parrots, gorillas, and dolphins have the same rights as a human toddler, a transhuman friendly rights system will be in place.”

― Bioethicist Leon Kass.


“If the greatest good of the greatest number (i.e., the social good) were served by it, it would be justifiable not only to specialize the capacities of people by cloning or by constructive genetic engineering, but also to bio-engineer or bio-design para-humans or "modified men" — as chimeras (part animal) or cyborg-androids (part prostheses).”


Modern Opinions “I would vote for cloning top-grade soldiers and

scientists, if they were needed to offset an elitist or tyrannical power plot by other cloners. I would favor making and using man-machine hybrids rather than genetically designed people for dull, unrewarding or dangerous roles needed nonetheless for the community's welfare — perhaps the testing of suspected pollution areas or the investigation of threatening volcanoes or snow-slides.”

― Bioethicist Joseph Fletcher in 1971.


"If you are really stupid, I would call that a disease. The lower 10 per cent who really have difficulty, even in elementary school, what's the cause of it? A lot of people would like to say, 'Well, poverty, things like that.' It probably isn't. So I'd like to get rid of that, to help the lower 10 per cent. .. People say it would be terrible if we made all girls pretty. I think it would be great.”

― James Watson, the Discoverer of DNA.


Anti-Life People AlwaysTry to Complicate and

Confuse Things!

A new genetic underclass, the “fleshists,” will be created;

Human individuality will be destroyed; The value of human life would become

relative, not intrinsic; and As with all Utopian movements that gain

power, transhumanism would quickly become strictly authoritarian.

It All Comes Down to:Pro-Life or Anti-Life?

Pro-Life: The natural way (babies come from sex).

Anti-Life: Non-natural (sex without babies and babies without sex).

It All Comes Down to:Pro-Life or Anti-Life?

Pro-Life: The natural way (babies come from sex).

Anti-Life: Non-natural (sex without babies and babies without sex).

Recommended Reading

Assisted Reproduction Donum Vitae (1987) Dignitas Personae (2008)

Human Sexuality in General Humanae Vitae (1968) Familiaris Consortio (1981) Truth and Meaning of Human Sexuality (1995)

Culture of Life/Culture of Death Evangelium Vitae (1995) Pascendi Dominici Gregis (1907)

All of these are on the Facts of Life DVD!

Brian ClowesHuman Life International4 Family Life LaneFront Royal, Virginia USATelephone: (540) 636-1106E-mail address: [email protected] site: http://www.hli.org

Brian ClowesHuman Life International4 Family Life LaneFront Royal, Virginia USATelephone: (540) 636-1106E-mail address: [email protected] site: http://www.hli.org

Facts 15

Lifestyle

Transcript of Facts 15