The New Reproduction
Recent developments in science have
created new alternatives in human reproduction. We may consider here
(1) artificial insemination by the husband (AIH), (2)
artificial insemination by donor (AID), (3) surrogate motherhood (SM),
and (4) in vitro fertilization
(IVF). These may be combined in various ways,
Very little of ethical importance
can be said about AIH. This is simply a way around certain difficulties
in fertilization, and we can be thankful that it is available.
AID, of course, is another question. It has been criticized as a form of
adultery, because it brings a third party into the reproduction process. I
don't agree with that assessment. Adultery in Scripture always involves
sexual intimacy; that is why it is offensive. I do have a problem,
however, with the man who makes the donation of semen. In making that
donation, he is opening the possibility that he will beget children, but
he will, in most cases, not know those children or take any
responsibility for them. That raises questions with respect to I Tim. 5:8.
His decision might be defended in the same way that we defend
a decision to put a child up for adoption. But in the case
of adoption, we usually have some idea of how the child will be cared
for, the trustworthiness of the adopting family. One generally cannot make
any such provision in
The method of gathering that semen,
normally masturbation, also raises some issues, though the
biblical principles on that matter are somewhat difficult to ascertain.
SM is like AID, in that a third
party enters the reproductive process. In this case, it is a woman, who
agrees to carry the child and give it up at birth. As with an AID
donor, the problem arises here of a parent bearing a child but
being unwilling to provide for it. This is, I think,
particularly difficult if the surrogate's own egg is used, if she is
the biological mother of the child. But again, one may defend
the procedure as analogous to adoption. Another difficulty is that
SM fails to take account of the bonding process between a woman
and the child in her womb. It is often very difficult for a SM
mother to give up the child after its birth. That creates legal, as
well as emotional, difficulties.
IVF is good in itself. There is no scriptural reason why a human egg should not be fertilized outside the mother's body and later implanted in her womb. However, in the usual practice, several eggs are fertilized, and after some observation one is chosen for implantation. The others are destroyed. On a biblical view of the personhood of the unborn child from conception, this procedure is the destruction of human life.