Holy Redeemer

Catholic Church

 Respect Lfe

 Message 7:  
Reproductive Freedom Amendment (RFA) and 
In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) 
 
The proposed amendment to the Maryland Constitution does not refer specifically to invitro fertilization but given broad “including but not limited to” language, there is little doubt that, if approved, the RFA will be used to broaden the scope of  “reproductive rights” to include IVF and  will also be used to suppress religious freedom and conscience rights of Catholic institutions and medical professionals, who will be obliged under penalty of law to provide professional services to anyone claiming newly acquired state constitutional rights, such as IVF.  (See Message #6.)   
 
IVF is a fertility treatment, opposed by the Catholic Church, in which medical personnel fuse sperm and eggs to create human embryos and implant them in a woman’s womb.  To maximize efficiency, technicians generate excess human embryos and routinely destroy undesired embryos. The Catholic Church objects that IVF and most other fertilization technologies disregard the sanctity of human life because they generally involve creating multiple human embryos (human beings), many of whom are discarded or not implanted, and may even be frozen indefinitely for future use or destruction.  The Church further objects that IVF can lead to viewing children as commodities or rights rather than gifts from God.  
 
The Catholic Church is not opposed to medical technology.  The Church emphasizes that such technology should respect the dignity of human life and the natural process of conception.  The Maryland RFA proposal offends the ethical and moral values a Catholic should consider in deciding how to vote on Question #1.  Consequently, the Maryland Catholic Conference recommends voting NO on the “reproductive rights” ballot initiative that would change Maryland’s Constitution, removing the few existing safeguards for women, tying the hands of state legislators to respond to new situations and stripping healthcare workers of their conscience rights.
 
For additional information, visit Maryland Right to Life (mdrtl.org), Maryland Catholic Conference (mdcatholic.org), Health Not Harm (healthnotharmmd.org).