CV NEWS FEED // Following Pope Francis’ recent denunciation of surrogacy, a prominent bioethicist and Catholic moral theologian highlighted that both truth and compassion are needed in the conversation around surrogacy because of how painful the cross of infertility is for couples who long to have children.
In agreement with Francis, bioethicist Charles Comosy wrote on January 15 for Angelus News, “The global surrogacy consumer network not only exploits vulnerable women, but also treats children as items for purchase. Tragically, in most cases of IVF, the ‘excess’ human beings are often discarded as if they are waste.”
However, Francis’ calling for a global ban of surrogacy during an address to foreign policy diplomats had an uncharacteristic tone to it, Camosy noted.
While the pope’s remarks before the global ambassadors were “powerful and needed,” they were missing an aspect that Camosy argued is integral to the conversation around surrogacy.
“The Holy Father often tries to do two things at once,” Camosy wrote. First, he tries to “hold fast to traditional doctrine (if often in ways that are intentionally and helpfully nonpolitical) and [second] emphasize the pastoral value of mercy. This is evident in his description of the Church as a field hospital which tries to stabilize deeply wounded people.”
“It is striking and can be disorienting when he does one without the other, or when certain people or groups emphasize one without the other,” Camosy continued. “Here, when it comes to his engagement on surrogacy, he emphasizes Church teaching without referencing mercy — as he does in so many other contexts, including abortion and irregular relationships.”
“The desire to have a biological child is, for many, one of the most powerful desires in nature,” Camosy wrote:
But that desire cannot change the truth — a truth Christians like the Holy Father are bound to proclaim — that no one has a right to a child. Children are gifts from God to which we can be open, but can never demand.
Camosy explained that giving adults “the right to purchase a child on the open market” would feed “the consumerist throwaway culture about which the Holy Father rightly warns us.”
“But,” Camosy continued, “what about mercy and the Church as a field hospital? My wife and I — along with so many others — know firsthand the incredible pain of infertility. I wish the Holy Father had acknowledged that this pain is in part driving the demand for surrogates.”
“Those bearing the pain of infertility as well as those who have used surrogates and are now beginning to question what they have done are among those who are hurting. They need the Church to be a field hospital which emphasizes God’s mercy on the way to speaking the truth in love,” Camosy wrote:
And they need a Church which focuses on other ways faithful Christians can be fruitful. Our spiritual father, St. Joseph, certainly provides a primordial example in his fatherhood of Jesus. (He was a foundational inspiration — and remains an ongoing help — for and with our three adopted children.)
“But let’s move even beyond adoption,” Camosy continued. “The Church must do a much better job making space for childless people in the Church, both single and married.”
“Far too often,” Camosy wrote, “one of the first questions I hear from Catholics I meet is, ‘How many children do you have?’ Can you imagine how such a question hits for those bearing the pain of infertility?”
Moving forward the Church needs to protect women and children from commodification, as well as acknowledge the real pain of infertility and accompany those couples who suffer from it, Camosy argued.
“Having biological children is a wonderful gift to be given by God, and we must continue to make cultural space for these gifts, especially in a culture that is often hostile to children,” Camosy concluded:
But let us also make space for the wounded people in the Church bearing the pain of not having been given this gift — and let us do so in ways that make it clear we value the gifts they bring to the table just as much.
Camosy was president for Democrats for Life until he announced that he could not morally remain a Democrat. He has written several books on bioethics, American “throwaway culture,” and unity in the Church. Camosy is currently a Professor of Medical Humanities at the Creighton University School of Medicine in Omaha, Nebraska.
