The Gift of a Child
From the Catechism of the Catholic Church, Simplified
Large Families (2373-2375)
Sacred Scripture and the Church see large families as a sign of God's blessings and parental generosity. Childless couples (Like Abraham/Sarah and Jacob/Rachel) often suffer greatly.
Research to reduce human sterility must be "at the service of the person, of his inalienable rights and his integral good in God's plan" (Gift of Life).
Gravely Immoral Techniques (2376-2377)
Any techniques (such as donation of sperm or ovum, surrogate uterus) that entails a disassociation of the spouses by the intrusion of a third party are gravely immoral. These techniques (heterologous artificial insemination and fertilization) infringe on the child's rights to know who his mother and father are. Couples have a "right to become a father and a mother only through each other" (Gift of Life).
Techniques involving only the couple themselves (homologous artificial insemination and fertilization) are less reprehensible yet morally unacceptable because they disassociate procreation from the sexual act. These methods entrust the life and identity of the embryo into the hands of doctors. They place the power of technology over the origin and destiny of the human person. This domination is contrary to that dignity which belongs to both parents and children. Procreation is deprived of its perfection when it is not the fruit of a specific sexual act of the spouses' union (Gift of Life).
No "Right" to a Child (2378-2379)
Every child is a gift, not a piece of property. He/she is not owed to anyone. No one has "a right to a child." Only the child has genuine rights. The child must be "the fruit of a specific act of the conjugal love of his parents" and to "be respected as a person from the first moment of conception" (Gift of Life).
The Gospel shows that physical sterility is not an evil. After exhausting legitimate medical means, a childless couple should unite with Jesus' cross. They can adopt children or perform demanding service for other.
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