Editing In vitro fertilisation (section)

===Religious response===
{{Main|Religious response to assisted reproductive technology}}

====Christianity====
The [[Catholic Church]] opposes all kinds of [[assisted reproductive technology]] and artificial [[contraception]], on the grounds that they separate the procreative goal of [[Sacraments of the Catholic Church#Matrimony|marital sex]] from the goal of uniting married couples.
The Catholic Church permits the use of a small number of reproductive technologies and contraceptive methods such as [[natural family planning]], which involves charting ovulation times, and allows other forms of reproductive technologies that allow conception to take place from normative sexual intercourse, such as a fertility lubricant. Pope Benedict XVI had publicly re-emphasised the Catholic Church's opposition to in vitro fertilisation, saying that it replaces love between a husband and wife.<ref>{{Citation|newspaper=Medical news today |url=http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/38686.php |title=Pope Benedict XVI Declares Embryos Developed For In Vitro Fertilization Have Right To Life |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081229164506/http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/38686.php |archive-date=29 December 2008  }}</ref> The Catechism of the Catholic Church, in accordance with the Catholic understanding of [[Natural law#Catholic natural law jurisprudence|natural law]], teaches that reproduction has an "inseparable connection" to the sexual union of married couples.<ref>{{cite web | location = Rome  | url = https://www.vatican.va/holy_father/paul_vi/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-vi_enc_25071968_humanae-vitae_en.html | title = Humanae Vitae: Encyclical of Pope Paul VI on the Regulation of Birth, sec 12| author = Pope Paul VI | author-link = Pope Paul VI|date= 25 July 1968|access-date= 25 November 2008|publisher = Vatican}}</ref> In addition, the church opposes IVF because it might result in the disposal of embryos; in Catholicism, an embryo is viewed as an individual with a [[soul]] that must be treated as a person.<ref name=medill>{{cite web | url = http://news.medill.northwestern.edu/chicago/news.aspx?id=136743 | title = Reconciling religion and infertility | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20131104194217/http://news.medill.northwestern.edu/chicago/news.aspx?id=136743 | archive-date=4 November 2013 | vauthors = Dain A | date = 30 July 2009 }}</ref> The Catholic Church maintains that it is not objectively evil to be infertile, and advocates adoption as an option for such couples who still wish to have children.<ref name = "catechism">{{cite web| title = Catechism of the Catholic Church. Section 2377 | url = https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P86.HTM |access-date=25 November 2008|publisher = Vatican |year= 1993 | location = Rome}}</ref>

The [[Lutheran Council in the United States of America]], organised by the [[Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod]] and parent bodies of the [[Evangelical Lutheran Church in America]], produced an authoritative document on the issue of in-vitro fertilisation, which "unanimously concluded that IVF does not ''in and of itself'' violate the will of God as reflected in the Bible, when the wife’s egg and husband’s sperm are used" (LCUSA n.d.:31).<ref name="AbbottNelson2002">{{cite web |author1=Deborah Abbott |author2=Paul Nelson |title=The Lutheran Tradition: Religious Beliefs and Healthcare Decisions |url=https://www.advocatehealth.com/assets/documents/faith/lutheranfinal.pdf|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20210209023416/https://www.advocatehealth.com/assets/documents/faith/lutheranfinal.pdf|archivedate=9 February 2021|publisher=Park Ridge Center for the Study of Health, Faith, and Ethics |page=9 February 2021|language=English |date=2002}}</ref> The Lutheran Churches approve of artificial insemination by a husband (AIH), though representatives from the [[Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod]] hold that such IVF is only unobjectionable if the sperm and egg come from husband and wife and all of the fertilised eggs are implanted in the womb of the wife.<ref name="AbbottNelson2002"/> With regard to artificial insemination by a donor (AID), the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America teaches that it is a "cause for moral concern", while the [[Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod]] rejects it.<ref name="AbbottNelson2002"/>

====Islam====
Regarding the response to IVF by [[Islam]], a general consensus from the contemporary Sunni scholars concludes that IVF methods are immoral and prohibited. However, Gad El-Hak Ali Gad El-Hak's ART fatwa includes that:<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Inhorn MC | title = Making Muslim babies: IVF and gamete donation in Sunni versus Shi'a Islam | journal = Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry | volume = 30 | issue = 4 | pages = 427–450 | date = December 2006 | pmid = 17051430 | pmc = 1705533 | doi = 10.1007/s11013-006-9027-x | url = http://vlex.com/vid/fatwas-ivf-gamete-sunni-shia-islam-418643 | access-date = 3 November 2013 | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090624121701/http://vlex.com/vid/fatwas-ivf-gamete-sunni-shia-islam-418643 | archive-date = 24 June 2009 }}</ref>
*IVF of an egg from the wife with the sperm of her husband and the transfer of the fertilised egg back to the uterus of the wife is allowed, provided that the procedure is indicated for a medical reason and is carried out by an expert physician.
*Since marriage is a contract between the wife and husband during the span of their marriage, no third party should intrude into the marital functions of sex and procreation. This means that a third party donor is not acceptable, whether he or she is providing sperm, eggs, embryos, or a uterus. The use of a third party is tantamount to ''zina'', or [[adultery]].

====Judaism====
Within the [[Orthodox Judaism|Orthodox Jewish]] community the concept is debated as there is little precedent in traditional Jewish legal textual sources. Regarding [[Judaism and sexuality|laws of sexuality]], religious challenges include [[masturbation]] (which may be regarded as "seed wasting"<ref name=medill/>), laws related to sexual activity and menstruation ([[niddah]]) and the specific laws regarding intercourse. An additional major issue is that of establishing paternity and lineage. For a baby conceived naturally, the father's identity is determined by a legal presumption ([[chazakah]]) of legitimacy: ''rov bi'ot achar ha'baal'' – a woman's [[Human sexual behavior|sexual relations]] are assumed to be with her husband. Regarding an IVF child, this assumption does not exist and as such Rabbi [[Eliezer Waldenberg]] (among others) requires an outside supervisor to positively identify the father.<ref>Tzitz Eliezer 9 p. 247</ref> [[Reform Judaism]] has generally approved IVF.<ref name="medill"/>