Human Embryo Adoption, Volume 2: Catholic Arguments For and Against

Half a century after the birth of the first person conceived through in vitro fertilization, there remains no definitive magisterial teaching on the moral liceity of embryo adoption. Catholics agree that the status quo, which has led to millions of unborn children being frozen in suspended animation as byproducts of IVF, is unacceptable. Nevertheless, consensus is elusive, and faithful Catholics sit in a kind of limbo, not knowing what if anything can be done for these young prisoners.

Human Embryo Adoption, vol. 2: Catholic Arguments For and Against is the first academic book to systematically investigate the new argumentative strategies proposed since the 2008 promulgation of Dignitas personae, which contains the Church’s most direct statement on embryo adoption. The volume organizes current perspectives thematically, pairing arguments from one side of the debate with corresponding arguments from the other side. These involve questions on the proper use of sexual faculties, parenthood and the rights of the child, the theology of adoption, the example of the Annunciation, the Theology of the Body, and the works of mercy.

By gathering the best arguments from a variety of approaches on both sides of the debate, Human Embryo Adoption presents the positions, arguments, and replies as they currently stand and as they are poised to move forward. This not only will help moral theologians move past the current impasses in the debate but will inform the consciences of faithful Catholics as they consider the practical question of what to do with offspring whose lives have been placed in a state of suspended animation.

Trent Horn is the author of Why We're Catholic: Our Reasons For Faith, Hope, And Love. Kent Lasnoski is President, San Damiano College of the Trades.