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Surrogacy
Hi all
today this topic came up in the meeting at church and no one seemed to know the answer.
so is surrogacy ok - that is approved by the Coptic church?
one argument was that it is ok as the surrogate mother is merely a vessel as in IVF.
so any one know?
Kristina123
today this topic came up in the meeting at church and no one seemed to know the answer.
so is surrogacy ok - that is approved by the Coptic church?
one argument was that it is ok as the surrogate mother is merely a vessel as in IVF.
so any one know?
Kristina123
Comments
Hope i helped...
+CD+
thats exactly what the head of the servants said - i think u may b right.
u see he said that its the same as IVF so long as the genes of both real parents are the contributors then its ok - in IVF the incubator is artificial where as in surrogacy its not, so practically its the same thing. that was his line of thought.
i mean there are alot of psychological issues pertaining to surrogacy but i wanted to know the church's standing on such an issue.
Abouna said he will ask so when i hear the answer ill post it here.
Thanks Dragon - if u hear more please post!!
Kristina123
Originally He accepted the idea of surrogacy when the sperm and oocyte are obtained from the married couple when the wife has lost or does not have the ability to carry pregnancy as in the case of a woman who has had her uterus removed because of bleeding or cancer (hysterectomy)
In a later communication, he closed the door on surrogacy even under those rare circumstances.
This was further clarified by Bishop Angelos in 1998.....who stated that the church fully rejected the idea of surrogacy.
Hope that clarifies what i mentioned earlier
whats the reasoning behind such a decision?
i need reasoning!
Kristina123
i found some stuff to support hardyakka well i think it does anyways. hopefully it provides more clarification
"The Coptic Orthodox Church on In Vitro Fertilization and transfer of embryos" is the book which the below refers to, which was published by His Grace, the late Bishop Gregorios, the Bishop of theological studies.
The introduction of his book starts by ascertaining that the success of in vitro fertilization represents a great success for Science by alleviating a great obstacle for married couples wishing to conceive a child. Although having children is not the only reason for marriage, it represents nature's first goal of marriage in all beings including humans. He fully acknowledges that motherhood is the strongest instinct that a woman could have and that having children is the first wish for any mother and certainly infertile women are among the unhappiest people even if they were married to the richest, wealthiest and most famous. He also acknowledges that the success of in vitro fertilization has brought happiness to thousands of married couples and settled lives among many families. He quoted examples from the Old Testament painting a picture of how such tragedy could affect family life such as Sara who asked Abraham to marry her maidservant and Rachel and Jacob. He cited Rachel's statement asking Jacob to give her children or she would rather die.
The second chapter focuses on the pitfalls of in vitro fertilization and assisted conception. He emphasized that a key issue is the fertilization of a woman's oocyte by her husband's sperm and
extreme accuracy should be exercised in this important issue. He stresses the role of the treatingphysician in honesty so that there is no question that fertilization has occurred between the husbandand wife and not any third party. He acknowledges that in certain situations fertilization might notoccur but does not accept that fertilization should be attempted between the wife's oocyte and any other man's spermatozoa, whether it is from a known or unknown donor. HG Bishop Gregorios calls this fertilization incomplete ethically or legally from all aspects because the fruit of the relation between a man and a woman should be from a holy relation. Another issue that he does not accept is the establishment of embryo banks and the buying and selling of gametes with money. This is fullyunacceptable because it brings down the relation of the value of marriage and conception and havingchildren to a low level. He then discusses the difficult issue of surrogate pregnancy and believes that this is an area with serious consequences. One of those consequences is that the infant may inherit some different psychological or physiological traits of the carrier. He acknowledges that in the past, a mother who died had her child nursed by another woman who could do so and that was a legitimate option in the absence of facilities for feeding. In a later discussion, HG Bishop
Gregorios denounces surrogacy.
if this is the only reason i do not beleive it to be valid.
u see i get it that the church does not approve of surrogacy - but i wanted to know the reasons behind such a decision.
in my opinion, if the church is willing to accept IVF then i beleive there is not much difference with surrogacy - i mean i can see the difficulty it has on the surrogate mother in terms of psychology but is this the reason the church does not approve?
can u please add if there are any more reasons.
Kristina123
that is the concern that a third party may create a potential risk
u see i get it that the church does not approve of surrogacy - but i wanted to know the reasons behind such a decision
habibi go and buy the book its a great read, see if you can download it lol jkz ill have a look into it further