The birth of octuplets to a California woman in late January has raised a series of disturbing questions about the use or misuse of fertility treatments. The media have been fascinated with the unfolding story of Nadya Suleman. She is the woman who already has six children, but convinced a doctor to implant multiple embryos in her womb, knowing the risks for the life and health of both mother and babies.
We cannot judge the motives of individuals involved in this particular situation - that is between them and God. But the story is troubling on a number of levels that have to do with in vitro fertilization. It is a particularly good illustration of why Catholic teaching based on human dignity is important to understand.
Our church teaches that human beings, even from the moment of conception, are precious to God. In vitro fertilization removes the newly formed human from the act of conjugal love between a husband and wife and places it in a Petri dish under the harsh glare of laboratory lights. The process usually involves the fertilization of several eggs; only the best eggs are implanted and the rest are destroyed, frozen or used for experimentation.
The embryos that were implanted in Suleman were "left over" from her previous implantations and had been frozen since they were fertilized in a laboratory.
The Suleman octuplets, despite their irregular origin, are blessings from God and deserve all the care and love their family and community can give to them. They will likely need all the help they can get, due to complications from their premature delivery and low birth weights.
If we are uneasy or even shocked by the circumstances of these eight children (14 total), it is because we know instinctively that children should not be used to satisfy obsessions or attract media attention. Children are not possessions, and we do not have a right to order babies as if by catalogue number and quantity. Children are gifts, given by God into our stewardship - not entitlements.
In December 2008, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith released an instruction call Dignitas Personae, (The Dignity of a Person). The document, which was personally approved by Pope Benedict XVI, updated church teaching on technical issues such as human cloning, surrogate motherhood, embryo experimentation and in vitro fertilization. It begins with "a great ‘yes' to human life," and encourages scientists in the quest to improve the quality of human life. It says the church's teaching is "based on the recognition and promotion of all the gifts that the Creator has bestowed on man: such as life, knowledge, freedom and love."
But the document cautions that there are things we should not do merely because we can. The Suleman case is an illustration of what can go wrong when we mistakenly attempt to usurp God's place as creator.
If you would like to read more about the church's teaching on bioethics, go to www.usccb.org/comm/Dignitaspersonae.