Catholic moral teaching with regard to infertility treatment and assisted reproductive technologies continues to evolve. Still, some uncertainties remain as to the licitness of various technologies. A new FDA-cleared product, the Conception Kit, developed by Conceivex, Inc., is a coital-based method of fertility enhancement designed such that the spouses remain sole agents of their procreative actions, in the privacy of their own home. This article provides a review and analysis of current Catholic moral teaching and how the Conception Kit relates to that teaching.
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References
1.
Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Donum vitae (Instruction on Respect for Human Life in its Origin and the Dignity of Procreation: Replies to Certain Questions of the Day) (1987).
2.
Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Dignitas personae (2008).
3.
CDF, Donum vitae, II.B, n. 7.
4.
PiusPopeXII“Discourse to those taking part in the 4th International Congress of Catholic Doctors” (1949), AAS41 (1949): 560.
5.
CDF, Dignitas personae, n. 12, both times quoting Donum vitae.
6.
CDF, Dignitas personae, n. 12, original emphasis.
7.
CDF, Donum vitae at II.B, n. 6, emphasis added.
8.
PiusPopeXII“Discourse to those taking part in the 4th International Congress of Catholic Doctors,” emphasis added.
9.
PiusPopeXII“Discourse to those taking part in the 4th International Congress of Catholic Doctors,” emphasis added.
10.
PiusPopeXII“Discourse to the Italian Catholic Union of Midwives” (1951), AAS43 (1951): 840.
11.
PiusPopeXII“Discourse to the Italian Catholic Union of Midwives” (1951), AAS43 (1951): 840.
12.
PiusPopeXII“Discourse to those taking part in the 4th International Congress of Catholic Doctors,”560
13.
PiusPopeXII“Discourse to the Italian Catholic Union of Midwives.”
14.
Clinical trial data available from Conceivex, Inc, 5 E. Main Street, Saranac, MI, 48881.
