Modern reproductive medicine asks two basic, key ethical questions: how should involuntary childlessness be medically assessed, and is extracorporeal fertilization, as a method to treat involuntary childlessness, in principle ethically acceptable? How far does the right to procreation reach, and how far does the claim of people with an unrealized wish for a child extend to the public and the health care system? Certainly, the discussion about reproductive autonomy needs the focus more on the well-being of the child. Yet, the assessment of unintentional childlessness as a disease also requires differentiation. This paper sheds light on the positions of the Church concerning modern reproductive medicine, including pre-implantation genetic diagnosis. Even if theological and ethical critique directed against certain developments in reproductive medicine is justified, this paper argues that the Protestant Church in Germany should rethink her hitherto critical position of in-vitro fertilization.

Enthalten in:
Kerygma und Dogma; 2012/3 Zeitschrift für theologische Forschung und kirchliche Lehre (2012)

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Serie / Reihe: Kerygma und Dogma

Personen: Körtner, Ulrich H. J.

Schlagwörter: Referat Theologische Ethik Kinderlosigkeit Reproduktionsmedizin