Tink is pretty right.
Also, piano, look on the wiki page about the curches official responses to ART. The catholic church is the only one with a problem with ivf (although the pope said it's less morally reprehensible if it's a married couple), and iui is pretty accepted.
50 years ago they would have thrown a fuss over organ transplants being unnatural. They still have issues with mental health treatments.150 years ago they would have had issue with vaccination. The church is always behind medical capabilities.
If the moral and religious aspects are concerning I suggest you read the bible, read the OT with abram and Sara, and god blessing their union (I feel this parallels with ART, as god found a way to make it happen it a manner that would be considered unnatural by the religious leaders of the day, due to Sara's advanced age).
I encourage you to pray about it. Paul (in Romans) tells us that religion and being religous, following the rules and traditions of the church is a bad thing. It is important that you pray and meditate on things, ask God what his plan is.
Another thing is to combat the specific problems that the catholic/orthodox (i know church of st john is the main church in Malta, but those 2 are also pretty big iirc) have with ART. Firstly that it separates the marriage act from that of the conception act. To which I ask, did God physically Fuck Mary? No. Jesus was conceived by means other than the marital act. If it's good enough for our Saviour's mother, it's good enough for me. Also bare in mind that c section was met with similar arguments and is now accepted.
Then we have the fact that the procedure is 'abortive'. This is split in 2. Firstly, unused genetic material is destroyed. This is only true if you do not donate your embryos once you've completed your treatments. We have signed to allow for all our genetic material to be donated to infertile couples once we are not in a position to use it.
The next part is that not all eggs fertilize, not all fertilized eggs grow, and very few stick and be one babies. Well, this is EXACTLY the same as what happens inside the woman of a healthy couple. Most fertilized eggs fail to implant or an early miscarriage occurs. Most couples are oblivious to this. It really is no different. If it fails before the transfer it goes into medical waste instead of a toilet or a tampon.
If you want I can have a more detailed specific discussion with you, and pray for you on this. I am Christian, but I follow the advice of Paul, and try not to blindly follow traditions set be religious leaders. As it is for that reason that Jesus was rejected by the chosen people.
Tink, there have always been people who are infertile, however many of them have issues that would have killed them prior to reaching a reproductive age. I agree that it is our modern life style exasperating the problem though.
Sorry for the long post.
i think i look like a frog lol!
xxx
