Posted on 04/26/2012 12:16:11 PM PDT by redreno
Indiana teacher who says she was fired from a Roman Catholic school for using in vitro fertilization to try to get pregnant is suing in a case that could set up a legal showdown over reproductive and religious rights.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
The pastor has followed Church teachings. The following is from an article found here(http://catholicinsight.com/online/church/vatican/article_475.shtml), and explains this far better than I could.
“The moral status of in vitro fertilization (IVF) Biology and method
By John B. Shea, MD FRCP
Issue: January/February 2003
Infertile couples sometimes resort to IVF in order to conceive a child. IVF is a laboratory technique by which human embryos are conceived in a petri dish which contains a culture medium. The woman is given hormones which stimulate her ovaries to produce up to 30 or more oocyte (ova). These are retrieved by inserting a needle into the ovaries via the vagina with ultrasound guidance. These oocyte are mixed with sperm. The sperm is obtained by masturbation and is usually donated by the husband. If the husband is infertile however, the sperm may be obtained from another man. If the women is infertile, likewise, the oocyte may be obtained from another woman, whose ovaries have been similarly stimulated. The embryos thus conceived are usually allowed to grow up to the four-to-eight-cell stage over three to four days, at which time some of the embryos are implanted in the woman’s uterus.
Embryos are sometimes implanted in the uterus other than that of the wife-a so-called “surrogate mother.” Some researchers obtain oocyte from women who donate them for financial compensation in order to conceive embryos purely for research purposes. These women are pre-selected because they are judged to have the genetic qualities most appropriate for the purpose of that specific research.
Because of the availability of new culture media, it has recently become possible to let the embryos grow for up to seven days, by which time, only the most vigorous survive. This reduces the number of embryos implanted and increases the number of successful implantations, while also reducing the number of multiple pregnancies. Note that most embryos (up to 19 out of 20), conceived in IVF clinics eventually die. If they are not implanted, they are either “donated” for research, in which case they are killed, or they are kept in cold storage in very low temperatures after which most are disposed of, or eventually die. Since frequently several embryos are implanted at one time, multiple pregnancies occur. Not infrequently, early in pregnancy, some of these embryos are killed by injection of potassium chloride into the embryo’s heart. This procedure is euphemistically called “fetal reduction.”
Catholic Church teaching
A human being comes into existence at the moment of fertilization of an oocyte (ovum) by a sperm. This fact has been recognized by the science of Human Embryology since 1883, and is still acknowledged today. The Church teaches that a human being must be respected-as a person-from the very first instant of his existence as a human being, and therefore, from that same moment, his rights as a person must be recognized among which in the first place, is the inviolable right of every innocent human being to life. The Church also teaches that from the moral point of view a truly responsible procreation vis-à-vis the unborn child, must be the fruit of marriage.
Pope Paul VI has taught that there is an “inseparable connection, willed by God, and unable to be broken by man on his own initiative, between the two meanings of the conjugal act: the unitive meaning and the procreative meaning.”
IVF violates the rights of the child: it deprives him of his filial relationship with his parental origins and can hinder the maturing of his personality. It objectively deprives conjugal fruitfulness of its unity and integrity, it brings about and manifests a rupture between genetic parenthood, gestational parenthood, and responsibility for upbringing. This threat to the unity and stability of the family is a source of dissension, disorder, and injustice in the whole of social life.
What about research on a human embryo?
The Church teaches that medical research must refrain from operations on live embryos, unless there is moral certainty of not causing harm to the life or integrity of the unborn child and mother, and on condition that the parents have given free and informed consent to the procedure. Since stem cell research on human embryos, in practice, invariably causes the death of those embryos, it too stands condemned.
In summary, the Catholic Church condemns as gravely evil acts, both IVF in and of itself, and stem cell research performed on IVF embryos.
References:
1. Donum vitae (Respect for Human Life), Instruction on respect for human life in its origin, Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, 1987. (Available from Catholic Insight under the title “Vatican, High Tech”). Note: see also “Moratorium” in News in Brief, under Great Britain, p. ????
2. Encyclical letter Humanae vitae, No. 14, AAS 60 (1968), 488-489.
3. Donum vitae.
© Copyright 1997-2006 Catholic Insight
Updated: Dec 3rd, 2006 - 14:48:37 “
If she signed a contract swing her actions would always conform to church teachings then she doesn’t have a leg to stand on.IVF is seen as a sin against G*d for interfering in his work and wishes.
That appears to be her ace in the hole here. Apparently she’s signed no such contract nor made any attempt to portray herself as Catholic. Which doesn’t surprise me. My wife has worked almost exclusively for Catholic hospitals for the last 30 years, and there have been no contractual obligations outside of the scope of medical care she delivers on their behalf.
“IVF is seen as a sin against G*d for interfering in his work and wishes.”
Without question, that is the Truth.
Medicine has gone too far in not only destroying life, but also creating or saving lives.
FTA: "Herx's lawsuit, filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Fort Wayne, alleges the diocese violated the Civil Rights Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act by discriminating against Herx based on gender and on infertility, which is considered a disability."
Neither being female nor being infertile is a sin acording to the Catholic Church: she was not fired for gender or for disability.
As understand it, the USSC ruled earlier this year that being a teacher in a denominational school was ministerial in the Lutherans' (Hosanna-Tabor) case, which obviously didn't restrict the definition to those who have received priestly ordination.
So, they fired for for being guilty of murder for hire. Sounds like a reasonable reason to fire someone as far as I'm concerned.
I'm assuming she didn't achieve a pregnancy (if she had, it would have been in the lede), so maybe it's an ongong quest on her part.
The Catholic school doesn't want to be forced to be a payer-provider for more procedures that kill "leftover" kids. So if she told them she's got plans for more lab babymaking attempts, maybe the only way they could evade becoming material cooperators was to terminate her employment.
Just a guess. I don't know. I'm just trying to read between the lines.
Great reference, thanks for posting it.
Teacher says Catholic school fired her over IVF
Teacher Claims Catholic School Fired Her Over IVF
Pope says arrogance drives infertility field, tells couples to shun artificial procreation Man Made Limbo (the consequences of IVF)
IVF babies ‘risk major diseases’
Polish Cardinal, Former Secretary to Pope JPII: Politicians, Like Pilate, Kill the Truth of the Life of the Unborn
Bishop criticizes reproductive technology’s ‘procreation without sex’
Dignitas Personae
Excommunication for deliberate embryo destruction?
Catholic School Teacher Fired for Having In Vitro
Vatican Summit Looks at Selecting Embryos
62-year-old Redding woman gives birth to 12th child
Actress Brooke Shields kills 140 of her very own Children by undergoing 7 IVF Treatments
Clinic Mix-Up Sparks Fears over IVF H
Insurance almost never covers fertility treatments of any kind, let alone IVF.
How is it a sin against God. God tells us to procreate and it takes a male and female to carry out procreation. So was she not doing that - do you know, or laying with a same sex partner? Or was something wrong with either of their reproductive organs?
Do you take medicine or go to a doctor? Well, did anyone accuse you of sinning against God? So be careful who you do.
Better yet, stay out of her personal life. Little nannies sticking their nose where it doesn't belong gossiping over what she 'should' do.
Obviously you've never heard of Onan and you also quite obviously don't understand what is involved in IVF.
Do you believe in killing innocent babies?
God so opposes IVF that a new human life is allowed to be created by this method anyway?
James, may I suggest that you reread the article I posted. The most “viable” embryos are allowed to live. All the others are killed/allowed to die. Not to mention that, in the Catholic Church, masturbation(used for collection of the sperm employed in fertilization of ovum) is a mortal sin, one against both natural law and divine law.
Suppose, for the sake of discussion, that a hypothetical couple were trying to use IVF. While 30 ovum were collected and fertilized, only one was allowed to grow, in utero. That math means 29 babies are killed/allowed to die. Also, there are those who use IVF and then selectively abort (murder) babies not of the preferred gender, whatever that may be.
Another Church teaching, simplified, is that the ends do not justify the means. Evil actions cannot, ever, make for good happening. So while a human life is precious, as a baby most certainly is, the murder of up to ~30 other babies-to-have-been is never acceptable.
That's exactly what they've done - fired her so her personal life will no longer be an issue and she can now go work somewhere else and do what she wants. You want to work for a Catholic school you follow the Catholic rules. Or leave. She knew that when she signed up.
The unused embryos are typically stored frozen, but that said, how does the Catholic church which terms masturbation as “mortal sin” treat nocturnal spontaneous emissions (wet dreams)? This is a spontaneously-produced ejaculation accompanying an erotic dream, a function the body performs when the testicles have no room to store newly produced sperm:
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nocturnal_emission
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