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Stanley J. Grenz
could conceivably trigger litigation. Recent court cases have indicated the
legal muddle that can occur when the prerogatives of each of the partners,
the donor (s), or a surrogate mother must be juggled. The potential exists as
well for legal entanglements in the more distant future, if the anonymity of
the other person(s) involved is challenged because of the child’s need to
know his or her full genetic heritage for medical reasons or in order to insure
against an unintentional incestuous union.
A third area of possible difficulties is the trauma which the child con
ceived through such means will face. This trauma arises from the fact that
not only is a third party introduced into the marital relationship, but a third
“parent” is added into the horizon of the child. This difficulty could be noth
ing more than the need to deal with the questions the child might raise con
cerning his or her genetic inheritance. Yet, the child’s interest could develop
beyond the natural inquisitiveness motivated by the desire to know about
oneself and one’s biological background. The couple might eventually need
to deal with the issues surrounding very practical situations in which genetic
history is crucial to the health or well-being of the child.
The addition of a third party into the procreative process potentially
brings a third parent into the child’s life. This could occur through the ini
tiative of the child, who sets out to discover his or her genetic father or
mother. But it could also arise should the genetic parent later seek to estab
lish contact with the child.11
While none of these potential problems is inherently insurmountable,
each ought to be considered seriously by any couple contemplating the use
of these technological means.
c.
Problematic dimensions of technological practices themselves.
When con
templating the possible use of donors, a couple will want to give consider
ation to the weighty complications cited above. In addition to these, several
other more technologically oriented factors add to the problems inherent in
certain procedures.
(1)
Problems of IVF. Apart from the potential for difficulties within th
marriage and family relationships, the process of in vitro fertilization intro
duces several ethical problems.12One of the most perplexing of these is the
question of “waste,” which arises in several different ways. The problem of
waste can arise through the inefficiency of the process. Whereas in natural
reproduction as few as 25 percent of the embryos produced actually
become implanted in the uterus of the mother, the failure rate of IVF is
11. Some donors have sought court action in order to gain the right to visit children pro
duced by their sperm. Lori B. Andrews, “Yours, Mine and Theirs,” 29.
12. For a discussion of a variety of purported ethical issues surrounding IVF, see William B.
Neaves and Priscilla W. Neaves, “Moral Dimensions of In Vitro Fertilization,”
Perkins Journal