Note: The ethical judgments on this page refer exclusively to the action — never to the person who performs it. Every person possesses inalienable dignity, regardless of what they do or have done. Cf. Note on ethical judgments (German).
In vitro fertilization (IVF) is a procedure of artificial fertilization in which egg cell and sperm cell are brought together outside the womb in the laboratory. The resulting embryo is then transferred into the uterus.
Ontological Classification
- is subclass of: artificial fertilization
- produces: surplus embryos
- is a precondition for: preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD/PGT)
Ethical Assessment
IVF regularly produces more embryos than are transferred. These surplus embryos are cryopreserved, used for research, or discarded. Since every embryo is, from fertilization onward, a person with full ontological dignity, the planned production of surplus embryos constitutes an intrinsically evil act: it accepts the discarding of human persons as a means.
IVF is moreover a precondition of preimplantation genetic diagnosis, which introduces a further stage of selection.
Sources: Generated by querying the Personhood ontology.
Further sources:
- Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (1987): Donum vitae. Instruction on Respect for Human Life in Its Origin and on the Dignity of Procreation. Vatican City.
- Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (2008): Dignitas personae. Instruction on Certain Bioethical Questions. Vatican City.
- Spaemann, Robert: Persons. The Difference between ‘Someone’ and ‘Something’, transl. Oliver O’Donovan. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006.
See also
- Artificial Fertilization
- Three-Parent IVF (mitochondrial donation)
- In Vitro Maturation (IVM)
- Surplus Embryo
- Embryo Transfer
- Frozen Embryo Transfer (cryotransfer)
- Embryo Donation
- Embryo Research Utilization
- Indefinite Cryostorage
- Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis (PGD/PGT)
- Sex Selection
- Embryo
- Surrogacy
- Oblivion of the Person
- Personalist Norm