Costa Rica: bishops speak out against IVF
February 07, 2011
The bishops of Costa Rica have condemned legislation that would legalize in vitro fertilization in the Central American nation.
“The Church is opposed from the moral point of view to ‘in vitro’ homologous fertilization; it is illicit in itself and contrary to the dignity of procreation and of conjugal union, even if all the means were in place to avoid the death of the human embryo,” they said in a recent statement. Nonetheless, the destruction of human embryos that is associated with the procedure makes opposition even more important, for by legalizing IVF, the nation would countenance “that human beings, in the weakest and most defenseless state of their existence, be selected, abandoned, killed, or used as biological material.”
83% of the nation’s 4.5 million people are Catholic, according to Vatican statistics.
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Further information:
- Iglesia Pide Respetar La Dignidad De Persona (Iglesia Católica en Costa Rica)
- Costa Rican Bishops Warn Against IVF Draft Law (Zenit)
- Costa Rica faces international pressure to legalize IVF (CWN, 12/10)
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