Assisting or Replacing the Conjugal Act: Criteria for a Moral Evaluation of Reproductive Technologies
Earlier this century, Pope Pius XII addressed the morality of artificial insemination in four allocutions. I In doing so, he laid a foundation for determining the morality of various technical means to achieve conception. They can be licit if they assist the conjugal act, and they are illicit if they replace the conjugal act. This teaching was further developed in the more recent instruction of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith: Donum Vitae . The Magisterial teaching is clear: the technologies that assist the conjugal act can be licit; those that replace it are illicit. What is not clear, however, is how one determines whether a reproductive technology assists or replaces the conjugal act. For some technologies, such as in vitro fertilization, the determination is easy. They replace the conjugal act since there is no conjugal act at all , and fertilization occurs outside the mother's body. Furthermore, the Magisterium has determined that certain procedures are illicit. Yet for other technologies, the determination remains difficult, and the Magisterium has not pronounced on their liceity. For example, reputable theologians faithful to Magisterial teaching are divided whether GIFT (Gamete Intrafallopian Transfer) assists or replaces the conjugal act, and the Magisterium has not determined its liceity. In a