Rosaries in hand, a small group of abortion opponents gathered outside a medical facility to pray for the unborn.
It was a familiar ritual held at an unconventional location: a fertility clinic.
Yet the crowd out front expressed concern for the fate of frozen embryos inside — particularly those that might be discarded, cryo-preserved indefinitely or donated for research — as a result of in vitro fertilization, considered the most effective form of assisted reproductive technology.
To Zabinski and his supporters, an embryo is just as worthy of protection as a fetus of any gestational age, based on the moral principle that life begins at conception. He lamented that some anti-abortion leaders ignore or de-emphasize potential consequences of IVF.
Numerous states have recently passed some of the most restrictive abortion laws in the nation in an attempt to challenge Roe v. Wade, the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision that established the right to terminate a pregnancy. Among the most stringent was Alabama’s near-total ban on abortion, but it includes a notable exception — in vitro fertilization.
“The egg in the lab doesn’t apply,” Clyde Chambliss, state senator and bill sponsor, said during legislative debate. “It’s not in a woman. She’s not pregnant.”
Sean Tipton, spokesman for the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, considers opposition to IVF a fringe crusade among abortion foes. He added that fights against fertility treatments tend to be very unpopular, so those against reproductive rights are less inclined to tackle IVF because “they know they’ll lose.”
The above comes from an Oct. 8 story in the Chicago Tribune.
Plz come to Downeys Family Planning Associates to pray and offer free pamphlets to woman entering! Spanish speakers needed as well! This place is open Sundays! So won’t you come and save a life!
Who is Zabinski? Not identified anywhere in article or photo caption.
From then article above: “When you do IVF, you create a life, but how many lives does it take?” said John Zabinski, founder of the bicycling event, which is organized by a local council of the Knights of Columbus.
I have know adults who were born from this procedure, and they are lovely individuals and deserving of honor as the rest of us, but I can only wonder how many of their siblings died in the process. I can only pray, along with those in the article, that this type of procedure is discontinued.
Thank all of you for bringing this to the forefront.
Stephanie Gray speaks on this topic a lot, look her up and listen.
This clinic is outside of Chicago. People are protesting, as I understand it, a modern scientific procedure that helps a
mother give birth to a new baby. Is it possible that science is moving too fast for us to get our hands around issues? What don’t I understand? Do people consider embryos not yet implanted to be real people, as if conception had occured? Do those embryos have souls? I think the church will lose this argument with any parent who has a chance to have a child by IVF. It seems like a punishment to ask them not to do it. In a way it seems immoral to oppose this procedure. Perhaps a priest would like to explain the church teaching in a way that a layperson could understand.
Anonymous The reason the church is against it is that is not a holy act. It is an act of fornication. Everyone wants their own child. The child is produced
in a pitri dish. Some fertilized eggs are used and the rest are thrown down the sink or frozen. It is sad that children die because parents are so selfish to have their own children when there are so many adoptable kids
How is it unholy? It isn’t fornication, because that requires sex, and there is no sex involved in IVF is there?