Educational Resource
Respect Life article by Helen Alvare (2007)
Respect Life Program article, Assisted Reproductive Technology and the Family by Helen Alvaré, 2007
At the beginning of the 21st century, it is impossible to avoid news reports on the subject of the “changing American family.” The legalization of same-sex marriage and civil unions, high rates of cohabitation, divorce, remarriage, and out-of-wedlock parenting are all altering many people’s understanding of the nature and purposes of family life. One lesser-noted phenomenon, changing people’s experience of family from the inside out, is the increasing use of assisted reproductive technologies (“ARTs”). In the United States alone, there are thousands of fertility clinics, sperm banks, egg brokers and surrogate mothers annually producing about 10,000 children.
This article will consider ARTs from the perspective of Catholic social teaching on the family. First, it will summarize very briefly the way ARTs are practiced in the United States, and the leading Catholic moral objections to them. It will then apply the two major aspects of Catholic social teaching about the nature and role of families to the practice of ARTs.