Vatican Not Pleased with Nobel Committee for IVF Prize

Added by David Sandercock on October 6, 2010

On Tuesday, the Vatican expressed its disappointment concerning the prize given to Robert Edwards, the in-vitro fertilization pioneer.

The Vatican motivated its opinion by stating that that Mr. Edwards is responsible for making possible “test tube babies” by fertilizing human eggs outside the mother’s womb and by opening a culture in which embryos are considered commodities.

The Vatican has also criticized other innovations such as surrogate motherhood and research performed on embryonic stem cells.

Recently, the Vatican has been openly and harshly criticized by the Italian media for its attack on Edwards. “Although IVF has brought happiness to the many couples who have conceived through this process, it has done so at enormous cost.” the Federation of Catholic Medical Associations said.

In the letter, the federation added that while millions of embryos were created, other millions were discarded in the in-vitro fertilization process which showed that embryos are being used as “animals destined for destruction”.

The Italian press has featured on its front pages the criticism the Vatican expressed towards Edwards and the Nobel committee that offered the medicine prize to the man that made IVF possible.

The Catholic medical federation expressed that it recognizes the pain cause by infertility, but said that research must be performed within the ethical frame.