Case Study of the Moral Dilemma: Orthodox Christianity vs. New Reproductive Technologies

Abstract

"Contemporary Health Care poses a lot of challenges, which sometimes are incompatible with the maintenance of the Christian faith. The report aims to analyze the discussions in the Russian Orthodox community to find the solution to the question: Does the participation of Orthodox infertile couples in Reproductive technologies (e.g. In Vitro Fertilization - IVF) coordinate with traditional Christian morality? Nowadays the Orthodox community is divided into conservatives, who are totally against being involved in IVF, and liberals, who suppose that some of the variants of IVF are admissible. The report provides an analysis of bioethical issues of Reproductive Technologies from the Orthodox point of view. The author posits that the dilemma discussed is false. It’s possible to avoid grievous ethical problems while using IVF. All of them are not equal. Some aspects are absolutely inappropriate. Others, falling short of the mark but not too far, still might be permitted due to the dispensation to a suffering person. The author discusses conservative and liberal arguments, which were articulated in the International Congress of Orthodox Doctors (2015) and at a panel discussion of Inter-Council Presence of Russian Orthodox Church (2017 – 2019). Cases of Orthodox infertile couples counseled by the author will show the need for some flexibility in resolving these issues. In the report the following cases of counseling will be discussed: A) Surrogacy in case of Snow Flakes Adoption); B) Ectogenesis – growing embryos and fetuses in artificial wombs; C) Cryopreservation of embryos; D) the use of IVF in secondary infertility. The work was done within the project of the Russian Science Foundation “Problems of bioethics in the historical context and socio-cultural dynamics of society” (№ 18-78-10018), carried out based on FSBEI HE PRMU MOH Russia. "