An article published in the magazine Intercom has severely criticised the widespread acceptance of IVF in Ireland. Margaret Byrne, a PhD student in moral theology at Maynooth draws attention to the apparent lack of appreciation among Irish people that there are serious moral problems with IVF such as the destruction of 'surplus' human embryos, the screening out and destruction of embryos with genetic problems and the damaging conviction that children are commodities to which adults have a right.
Margaret Byrne points out that Donum Vitae "makes it very clear that no one has a right to have a child, as a right to a child would be contrary to the child's dignity and nature. A child is not an object to which one has the right to, a child is a gift."
John Smeatonhas condemned the silence by religious leaders and the pro-life movement over the destruction of over two million embryos by the IVF industry, which has undoubtedly added to the fatal moral confusion many people, including those who oppose abortion, are experiencing over IVF. We have a moral duty to defend human life from the moment of fertilisation - all human life - and to warn people that the IVF industry is as anti-life as the abortion industry.
