Embryo Adoption and the Extended Inseparability Argument

Abstract

The Catholic debate over embryo adoption is at a genuine impasse awaiting resolution from the magisterium of the Catholic Church because both sides have reached a point where there is a fundamental disagreement. Several Catholic ethicists have argued that the ethical reasoning linking the acts of having sex and of making a baby, and therefore reserving both to the causality of a husband, should be extended to the act of becoming pregnant. This would rule out embryo transfer in all its manifestations. However, this dispute cannot be resolved by further argumentation, but requires authoritative definition in response to the question, Should the principle of inseparability be extended to the act of becoming pregnant?