wfn.org | Christian Reformed Church Book on Bioethics

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> CRC  Book Looks at Bioethics

Feb. 26, 2009 -- The recent birth of octuplets to a California woman whose doctor used in vitro fertilization techniques raises a variety of ethical questions.  These and other questions are addressed in Bioethics: A Reformed Look at Life and Death Choices.

Recently published by Faith Alive Christian Resources, the publishing agency of the Christian Reformed Church, the book looks at a range of ethical dilemmas posed by modern medicine ? among them assisted reproductive technologies.

The octuplet case involves Nadya Suleman, a 33-year-old single mother who already had six children.  This was only the second time that a full set of octuplets was born alive in the United States, according to news accounts.

?This case has drawn national attention to the fact that assisted reproduction is largely unregulated in the U.S.,? says Ruth Groenhout, author of the book on bioethics and a professor of philosophy at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Mich.

?Even techniques such as the implantation of multiple embryos at one time, a technique that puts any developing children at a very high risk of serious health problems, is not addressed by our laws,? says  Groenhout.  ?This case may be the impetus for laws that regulate such techniques, and that could be a good thing.?

Groenhout says the case has generated debate

?about whether a woman with several other children should use assisted reproductive techniques to have even more, about who should pay for the needed medical treatment for the babies, and the like.?

In her book, she writes about how Reformed Christians might want to think about such issues as when life ends, Christian responses to chronic illness and suffering, the global challenge of HIV/AIDS and more.

In two chapters on issues involving implantation, selection and research on embryos, the author makes it clear that there are tough choices for Christians to make when confronting these topics.

?As Christians formulate a response to these new technologies, we need to practice a number of virtues together,? Groenhout writes.

First, she says, people ought not ?heap burdens on another?s back that we are not willing to bear ourselves. But we also need to resist the temptation to adopt the values of the world we live in.?

In addition, she writes that a Christian?s response ?should be colored by our belief that God?s love is not limited to children and adults who are healthy, intelligent, and productive.?

There are discussion questions after each chapter of the book, making it useful for group study or personal reflection.

One issue that has not been addressed much in all the discussion about the Suleman case is the question of how Christians should think about the many embryos produced by assisted reproduction.

? Ms. Suleman seems to have chosen to implant so many, in part, because she did not have the money to keep going back for more rounds of hormone treatment and implantation, and she wanted to make sure all her embryos were used,? says Groenhout.

?If she did not have the money to undergo more treatments, and the law restricted her doctor to the implantation of two or three embryos, then she would have had five embryos needing permanent storage, or potentially being discarded, or being used for research.

?There aren?t any easy answers for Christians trying to discern how best to think about assisted reproduction, but it is an issue that is likely to generate even more controversies like this one in the future,? says Groenhout.

> -Chris Meehan, CRC Communications

> -- Chris Meehan
> News & Media Director
> Christian Reformed Church in North America
> 1-616-224-0849