John Roberts of CNN has broadcast a theme piece entitled “Misconceptions” which exposed the legal complications that have followed the wide spread use of in-vitro fertilization when something goes awry with the procedure. He interviewed a couple who were accidentally implanted with an embryo left at a fertility clinic by another couple. They were soon embroiled in a legal controversy within which the ‘rights of the parents’ superseded the ‘best interests of the child’. Further commentary offered by lawyers who were interviewed stated that they types of accidents were becoming sufficiently common that the American Bar Association has issued guideline by which the resolution of such legal issues should be adjudicated. This does not come as a surprise to the Catholic Church. From the public advent of this technology with the birth of Louise Brown, the world’s first ‘test-tube human baby it has stated that such procedures, while perhaps medically safe was not deemed to be moral as it wou...
Reflections from the pastoral ministry of an Evangelical Catholic Priest.