Approaches to Embryo Adoption: Medical, Ethical, Pastoral, and Life Together
Kevin Voss, DVM, Ph.D., Director, Concordia Center for Bioethics, Concordia University
In September 2015, the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod (LCMS) sponsored a gathering of experts to discuss embryo adoption. Four themed essays on various perspectives were presented, followed by a response to each. The perspectives were medical, ethical, pastoral, and “our life together.” The LCMS Commission on Theology and Church Relations had written a 2005 study of issues involving in vitro fertilization, embryonic stem cell research, and cloning technology, but to date, the LCMS has not taken an official position on embryo adoption, and there was no agreement among the gathered group on that issue. This presentation will recount the themes of that meeting and summarize major positions on embryo adoption taken by the Roman Catholic Church and Protestant evangelical church bodies. An argument will be made that embryo adoption should, at a minimum, be deemed permissible by the LCMS and other conservative Christian groups as long as the motive of adoptive parents is to save defenseless lives rather than treat infertility.
In September 2015, the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod (LCMS) sponsored a gathering of experts to discuss embryo adoption. Four themed essays on various perspectives were presented, followed by a response to each. The perspectives were medical, ethical, pastoral, and “our life together.” The LCMS Commission on Theology and Church Relations had written a 2005 study of issues involving in vitro fertilization, embryonic stem cell research, and cloning technology, but to date, the LCMS has not taken an official position on embryo adoption, and there was no agreement among the gathered group on that issue. This presentation will recount the themes of that meeting and summarize major positions on embryo adoption taken by the Roman Catholic Church and Protestant evangelical church bodies. An argument will be made that embryo adoption should, at a minimum, be deemed permissible by the LCMS and other conservative Christian groups as long as the motive of adoptive parents is to save defenseless lives rather than treat infertility.