What your religion has to say about how you become a parent

Increasing fertility options for couples who can't naturally conceive trigger questions about ethics. 

About a third of American adults say in vitro fertilization is morally acceptable, according to a Pew Research study.  The conditions around IVF, mainly if donor sperm or eggs are used, can ignite debates, especially in faith circles. 

Many faith leaders cite beliefs about the purpose of sex, when life begins and the union of marriage, saying fertility options go against or blur the lines of morality. For example, the Catholic Church believes a child must be conceived during sex and condemns any practice of conceiving a child outside that physical union. John Grabowski, director of moral theology and ethics at the Catholic University of America, said that when reproductive technology is used, "children become products instead of gifts.”

Judaism favorably views most reproductive technology, saying procreation is a core Jewish value. 

In 2014, Pew reported 70.6% of Americans identified as Christian, and 5.9% claimed non-Christian faiths. Here's a broad look at how faith families interpret the ethics of fertility treatments:

Using a donor

Catholics, Evangelicals and Mormons are among those against using a sperm or egg donor.

Though Mormons “strongly discourage” the use of surrogate parents or eggs or sperm from anyone but the husband or wife, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints spokesperson Eric Hawkins said judgment is ultimately left to the husband and wife. 

Sunni Islam, the most dominant branch of the faith, is against using donors, but Yale professor and specialist on Middle Eastern religion Marcia C. Inhorn said an increasing number of Muslims practicing Shiite Islam use donors, especially egg donors. In some cases, a man may use nikah mut'ah, temporary marriage, with a donor to stay true to Islamic law. Inhorn said there are other ways a child can be recognized as belonging to a family, including breastfeeding. 

Outside faith circles, ethics teams have questioned the means by which donor eggs are harvested. 

The Center for Bioethics and Culture Network created two documentaries, Maggie’s Story and Eggsploitation, on the topic of egg donation. In these films, women talk about serious medical problems they developed after egg donation and how they felt used and abused by the process.

The center said the business of egg donation violates women’s human rights in four ways: coercing donors through ads "manipulative of young college-aged women”; focusing only on women with certain racial, physical and intellectual characteristics; not disclosing health risks needed for “informed consent"; and asking donors to remain anonymous. 

Surrogacy

Surrogacy could be in demand more than ever as gay couples desire children.  It's also an option for women who cannot carry children for whatever reason. Those opposing surrogacy say "womb renting" isn't ethical. 

The Catholic Church believes surrogacy "depersonalizes the woman who is carrying the child and depersonalizes the child she carries because the child becomes a bargaining chip," Grabowski said. 

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R. Albert Mohler Jr., president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, said the "grave problem" with surrogacy is that pregnancy is distanced from husband and wife.

The method redefines parenthood. Singles and gays can have children using a surrogate, which "abstracts" the institution of marriage, Mohler said. 

Stop Surrogacy Now, which is not affiliated with any particular religion, is a group dedicated to outlawing the practice, saying, "Commercial surrogacy is indistinguishable from the buying and selling of children."

Adoption

Judaism supports reproductive technologies, surrogacy and adoption largely because procreation is a core Jewish value, but some ritual concerns exist. 

"Traditional Jewish practice associates religious identity with the religious status of the birth mother," Rabbi Daniel Nevins said in an email. "So if a non-Jewish woman gives birth to a child who is adopted by Jewish parents, then they would need to convert the child through immersion in a ritual bath (mikveh). Even if the birth mother is a surrogate and all genetic materials were provided by Jewish parents, the assumption is that the child should be immersed just to be without doubt about their religious status."

Nevins, the Pearl Resnick dean of the Rabbinical School of the Jewish Theological Seminary, said adopted children are advised to undergo genetic testing before becoming parents to avoid incest.

Adoption is the only option infertile Catholic couples have to raise children. Evangelicals favor adoption, too. 

"Adoption is one of the most honored acts in scripture, assuming it is done ethically and legally," Mohler said.

Muslims do not condone adoption and have more favorable views of fertility treatments. 

"The Islamic scriptures are clear that each child should know his/her biological parents," Inhorn said. "It’s that child’s right."

Inhorn, who has studied Islam for more than 30 years, said Muslim couples can foster children but cannot change the child's name to preserve lineage. 

Using sperm from the deceased

Sperm can remain banked after a donor dies. Sperm can even be harvested from a dead man's body — it's rare, but California Cryobank has performed 180 cases.

Cappy Rothman, who consulted in a postmortem sperm retrieval case in 1979 and runs California Cryobank, said some people might opt for this process to ease the grief of losing a loved one.

“If they have an opportunity to have children or grandchildren, it gives them something to focus on,” he said. 

The sperm is rarely used. Rothman said that out of 180 retrievals, he knows of only three children born using the sperm. 

Because these cases are so rare, most religions haven't adopted a firm opinion. Christians and Muslims who believe the marriage contract ends at death could have a difficult time justifying using sperm after death within the marriage union. 

“Some of these things, there’s not a clear yes or a clear no,” Mohler said. “The further you get from the conjugal union of marriage, the more problematic it becomes."

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