Posts
Church Policies: Infertility Issues
This is part of a series of posts containing information on Church policies on medical and scientific issues.
Artificial Insemination
Artificial insemination with semen from anyone but the husband is discouraged....Artificial insemination of single sisters is not approved.
Donation of Sperm
The donation of sperm is discouraged.
In Vitro Fertilization
In vitro fertilization using semen other than that of the husband or an egg [from anyone] other than the wife is discouraged. However, this is a personal matter that ultimately must be left to the judgment of the husband and wife.
Surrogate Motherhood
The Church discourages surrogate motherhood.
Source: Church Handbook of Instructions, 1989, as quoted in "Policies, Practices, and Procedures" in the Encyclopedia of Mormonism.
3 comments:
Jared, I noticed an interesting thing: the intensifier strongly was consistently added to the 1998 handbook versions of these policy statements, e.g., "Artificial insemination with semen from anyone but the husband is strongly discouraged" (emphasis added).
Thanks for the update, Justin.
Y'know, if well-meaning Mormons in Virginia would have obeyed this counsel a few years back, they wouldn't have had all of the problems with nutcake doctor that was using his own semen (although he said otherwise) and telling women that weren't pregnant that they were.
Sorry for the insensitivity. My wife and I have been down the infertility road, so I know it's a painful situation. We avoided the unapproved methods and our story turned out very positive (five kids in 11 years), although; I know that's not the case for some people that are really trying hard to do the right thing.
Post a Comment