Frozen embryos - What to do

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There has been a lot of news lately about the Alabama's Supreme Court ruling that embryos are children. As I write this, out of fear of retribution, clinics are discontinuing in vitro fertilization (IVF) at all stages, en masse, in Alabama. This is affecting women who have been preparing for IVF or who already have frozen embryos. 

Will individuals and institutions be held responsible for taking a life, if the process ends up having embryos discarded, since it has been determined they are children? 

That question is paralyzing those holding the embryos in abeyance, and the parents wanting to start or complete the process.
 
(To read the strange story about the couples who started it all, go to:

We need to be sensitive to their situation, as these families are in great pain over the decision they made to embrace IVF. Unfortunately, our culture ignored the slippery slope that IVF created, and exploited the natural desire, loving, well-intended people had, to have a child.
 
If only we would have listened when the Catholic Church highlighted the danger of IVF, and opposed it, many years ago. It is not surprising that we have over a million frozen embryos and no clear, moral path out of this dilemma. We knew it would be a problem, and it certainly is, because nobody listened.

It is truly unfortunate that so many people have been thrown into turmoil over this, but the Alabama Supreme Court made the right decision. I'm not sure how they could have addressed it so it would be less chaotic, but we sure are in a mess now.  Interestingly, the mess we are in was easily anticipated and could have been avoided.  As I write this, the legislature is trying to figure out how to protect IVF by enshrining it in law.
 
Anytime we try to enshrine something immoral in law, as a country, we are making a statement about our priorities.  Discarding people--embryos--moves life, once again, down the ladder of importance.

Here are a couple of links I highly recommend for your prayerful, thoughtful, reflection:
 
This link speaks directly to the challenge of what to do with the unwanted embryos:

https://www.catholic.com/magazine/print-edition/can-frozen-embryos-be-saved
 
This link talks about embryo adoption, artificial wombs, and "damage-control" laws.

https://www.ncregister.com/news/frozen-in-time-catholic-ethicists-discuss-the-fate-of-the-estimated-1-million-human-embryos-on-ice
 
It also includes this quote:
 
"In 1996, Pope John Paul II made an 'appeal to the conscience of the world’s scientific authorities and in particular to doctors, that the production of human embryos be halted, taking into account that there seems to be no morally licit solution regarding the human destiny of the thousands and thousands of ‘frozen’ embryos which are and remain the subjects of essential rights and should therefore be protected by law as human persons.'” 
 
We need to place human life above everything.  Not doing so puts us in a very precarious position, as we now know.
 
Janet Cassidy
janetcassidy.com
Follow my Facebook page at:
https://www.facebook.com/reflectionsinfaith/
Check out my YouTube Channel at:
https://www.youtube.com/@janetcassidy 
 
Here is the link to Part 1 of my conversation with Deacon Art Miller:  https://youtu.be/B5lOZ4M1JxE
 


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