Syracuse Herald American (NY)

December 27, 1998

ETHICAL CONTROVERSY RAGES WILL CHILDREN BECOME MANUFACTURED GOODS? WHERE DOES GOD COME IN?

Author: Amber Smith Staff writer

Egg donation is a very precise scientific procedure for something that Dr. Robert Kiltz admits is awash in ethical debate.

A report by the New York State Task Force on Life and the Law published in April offers a summary of the issues and disagreements regarding assisted reproductive technology.

The task force makes recommendations for state laws and public policy based on a wide review of public discussions of medical issues.

The report makes clear that many people can't agree on what infertility is.

Some, the report says, argue that it's a disease, a deviation from normal function that steals from people a fundamental right.

Others say infertility is merely a physical difference that people may or may not want to take steps to change.

This may sound like a semantic battle, but health insurers latch onto definitions to explain why they will or will not pay for various procedures.

And, on the subject of money, some question whether it is fair to spend money creating babies when so many children are already born and need homes. And, the report asks, what about poor women who are infertile?

Making babies without having sex, to some people, represents a degradation of parenthood and a means to placate adults, the report says. They believe the practice is scary because it's a step away from genetic manipulation to create "the perfect child." They worry children brought into the world through assisted reproductive technologies such as egg donation will become mere products to be manufactured, bought and sold and that the high price for these technologies will make the consumer/parents demand perfection.

Feminist commentators cite other reasons to suspect reproductive technology, according to the report. Some view it as another attempt by male doctors to dominate women's bodies, a way to ensure that women will be seen primarily as mothers. They say technologies such as egg donation reinforce a society that already disapproves of people who are childless.

They say it's not fair to offer a childless woman the hope of becoming a mother when the odds of pregnancy are low. It just puts off her coming to terms with infertility.

On the other hand, they point out, egg donation increases a woman's reproductive freedom by allowing her to put off having babies. And the fact that the eggs are fertilized outside of the woman's body means she can get pregnant without a partner of the opposite sex.

Assisted reproductive technology also brings up racial issues - that black women have higher infertility rates, but the new technologies are used almost exclusively by white women.

It also brings up religious beliefs, some of which are not tolerant of doctors messing with God's will. And even those who accept the medical technology don't readily extend their blessing to the use of eggs or sperm from outside of a marriage.

Religious beliefs

The New York State Task Force on Life and the Law issued a report on Assisted Reproductive Technologies in April that summarizes some of the religious concerns surrounding the procedures doctors use to help women become pregnant. This information comes from that report:

The Vatican has condemned most assisted reproductive technology, believing the conjugal act is the only proper way to create a child. The Roman Catholic church also argues against the use of donor sperm or eggs because it would deprive children of their heritage and genetic family.

The Eastern Orthodox church also opposes separating conception from the conjugal act and especially opposes the use of donor sperm: It constitutes adultery for a woman to allow the semen of someone else to enter her body.

Some Protestant theologians are concerned about the intrusion of a third party into the marriage relationship. Others don't like separating reproduction from sexual love. Some say technology can be used for the purposes of providing children in a marriage, but only as long as sperm and eggs come from the husband and wife.

Mormons recognize reproduction as a personal matter to be left to the husband and wife.

The Jewish faith sees infertility as a physical condition, with some commentators arguing for couples to pursue pregnancy to the maximum their emotions and finances will allow, and other commentators saying such pursuit is not obligatory. Jewish law says the child is related to the one who gave birth, but some rabbinical authorities have expressed concern with regard to donor eggs or sperm: that children could grow up and inadvertently marry a half-sibling.

Islamic women are supposed to rigorously pursue treatment for infertility because it's their duty within marriage to procreate. If a wife is infertile, her husband is permitted under Islamic law to divorce her or take other wives.

Adoption is forbidden. Islam forbids donor eggs or sperm because of the emphasis on the purity of the family line.

Buddhist theologians have reached substantial agreement on the acceptability of assisted reproduction under Buddhist teachings, as long as none of the parties involved is harmed.