{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,4]],"date-time":"2026-05-04T12:05:45Z","timestamp":1777896345399,"version":"3.51.4"},"reference-count":39,"publisher":"SAGE Publications","issue":"4","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,10,22]],"date-time":"2022-10-22T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1666396800000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/page\/policies\/text-and-data-mining-license"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["journals.sagepub.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Linacre Q"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2022,11]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>This article is a case study illuminating the experience of a cradle Catholic who pursued a career in the field of Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) as a laboratory director and embryologist. Twenty years after leaving the field, the observations leading to the crisis of conscience are further amplified by the reports of social, legal, ethical, and medical consequences of the technology. These consequences are explored in detail and can serve as a mini-review of the published scientific literature describing the obstetrical complications, peri-natal outcomes, and the long-term health effects on the offspring. This paper provides the documented evidence that can be used by the religious and medical community for shepherding the flock. The disordered approach to patient care is evidenced by five serious consequences resulting from the use of the technology. These include multiple pregnancy and selective reduction, abandoned and discarded embryos, adverse health effects to the women and children, legal and ethical problems, and human experimentation. An explanation for the adverse consequences can be found by exploring and applying the principles of Natural Law. Natural Law, as embraced by the Catholic Church, can be used as a starting point for conversion of heart for many who struggle with the immorality of ART. Deterring use of the technology coupled with increased motivation by scientist and health professionals to pursue restorative approaches within a moral framework offer our best solution to the treatment of infertility. Natural Law and the consequences of violating it provide evidence that science and medicine should not be practiced in a vacuum void of ethical and moral boundaries grounded in divine Wisdom.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1177\/00243639221128393","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,10,23]],"date-time":"2022-10-23T00:24:15Z","timestamp":1666484655000},"page":"388-403","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/sage-journals-update-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["Assisted Reproductive Technology and Natural Law: How Seven Years as an Embryologist Revealed IVF's Disordered Approach to Patient Care"],"prefix":"10.1177","volume":"89","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7658-9470","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Craig","family":"Turczynski","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Billings Ovulation Method Association-USA, Minneapolis, MN, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Alexa","family":"Dodd","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Alexatdodd.com, Irving, TX, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Mary Anne","family":"Urlakis","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Dignitas Personae Institute for Nascent Human Life, Inc., Colgate, WI, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"179","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,10,22]]},"reference":[{"key":"bibr1-00243639221128393","unstructured":"Aquinas Thomas.\n                      Summa Theologica I-II. 94. 2\n                      ."},{"key":"bibr2-00243639221128393","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ejogrb.2014.02.009"},{"key":"bibr3-00243639221128393","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1093\/humupd\/7.4.428"},{"key":"bibr4-00243639221128393","volume-title":"Principles of Biomedical Ethics","author":"Beauchamp Tom L.","year":"2001"},{"key":"bibr5-00243639221128393","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1080\/03009734.2016.1191564"},{"key":"bibr6-00243639221128393","volume-title":"\u201cThe Openness to Fertility\u201d in the Catechism of the Catholic Church","author":"Catholic Church"},{"key":"bibr7-00243639221128393","volume-title":"\u201cThe Natural Moral Law\u201d in the Catechism of the Catholic Church","author":"Catholic Church"},{"key":"bibr8-00243639221128393","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1017\/S2040174417000228"},{"key":"bibr9-00243639221128393","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.fertnstert.2019.10.013"},{"key":"bibr10-00243639221128393","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1002\/stem.2221"},{"key":"bibr11-00243639221128393","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1093\/humupd\/dmh004"},{"key":"bibr12-00243639221128393","unstructured":"Dusenbery Maya. 2020. \"What We Don\u2019t Know About I.V.F. (Published 2020).\" The New York Times, 17 April 2020. https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2020\/04\/16\/parenting\/fertility\/ivf-long-term-effects.html."},{"key":"bibr13-00243639221128393","unstructured":"\u201cHome - Sacred Heart Guardians and Shelter.\u201d. n.d. Sacred Heart Guardians and Shelter. Accessed 25 April 2022. https:\/\/sacredheartguardians.org\/home\/."},{"key":"bibr14-00243639221128393","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.2105\/AJPH.92.1.119"},{"key":"bibr15-00243639221128393","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1095\/biolreprod52.4.709"},{"key":"bibr16-00243639221128393","unstructured":"Ledford H. 2019. \u201cCRISPR Babies: When Will the World Be Ready?\u201d\n                      Nature\n                      , https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/d41586-019-01906-z."},{"key":"bibr17-00243639221128393","unstructured":"\u201cLegally Speaking.\u201d. n.d. American Society for Reproductive Medicine - ASRM. Accessed 26 April 2022. https:\/\/www.asrm.org\/news-and-publications\/news-and-research\/legally-speaking\/."},{"key":"bibr18-00243639221128393","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1631\/jzus.B1200348"},{"key":"bibr19-00243639221128393","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0080398"},{"key":"bibr20-00243639221128393","volume-title":"My Daddy's Name Is Donor: A New Study of Young Adults Conceived Through Sperm Donation","author":"Marquardt Elizabeth","year":"2010"},{"key":"bibr21-00243639221128393","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1093\/humrep\/17.1.178"},{"key":"bibr22-00243639221128393","unstructured":"\u201cMore Than 8 Million Babies Born From IVF Since the World's First in 1978: European IVF Pregnancy Rates Now Steady at Around 36 Percent, According to ESHRE Monitoring.\u201d. 2018. 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