The four signatories were Bishop Michael Burbidge, who chairs the USCCB’s Committee on Pro-Life Activities; Bishop Robert Barron, who chairs the Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family Life, and Youth; Archbishop Borys Gudziak, who chairs the Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development; and Bishop Kevin Rhoades, the chairman of the Committee for Religious Liberty.
IVF, the bishops warned, is “a threat to the most vulnerable of human beings.” They further rebuked the IVF industry as one that is “built on millions of children who are created to be destroyed or abandoned.”
“Contrary to what some have claimed, a position that supports legal enshrinement of IVF, however well-intended, is neither pro-life nor pro-child,” the bishops added. “Approaches such as investing in life-affirming research on infertility, or strengthening support for couples who desire to adopt, would be better to explore.”
IVF is a fertility treatment in which doctors fuse sperm and eggs to create human embryos and implant them in the mother’s womb without a sexual act. Embryos that are intended to be implanted at a later date are frozen. Undesired embryos are routinely destroyed or used for scientific research, which kills those preborn children.
Duckworth’s IVF bill was introduced in response to an Alabama Supreme Court decision, which ruled that human embryos are legal persons under the state’s Wrongful Death of a Minor Act. With significant Republican support, both chambers of the Alabama Legislature passed a bill that would shield IVF clinics from criminal and civil liability in cases of embryo deaths.
Because of an objection on the Senate floor from Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, R-Mississippi, the bill was blocked from advancing via unanimous consent and must go through the committee process before it can receive a vote.
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