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PAGE 6 — The Georgia Bulletin, March 19, 1987 Ohio Couple Optimistic, Used Approved Procedure WATCHING — Fred and Marilyn Sinay watch a videotape of an ultrasound exam that shows their baby, expected Aug. 15, is develop ing normally. (NC Photo by Sol Smith) Document Reveals Concern For Death Rate Of Embryos BY GREG ERLANDSON VATICAN CITY (NC) - The Vatican’s new docu ment on procreation and subsequent statements show church leaders deeply concerned over a high death rate among labo ratory-conceived human embryos. The most common statistics on the odds of developing a laboratory- conceived pregnancy to term are from 10-20 per cent. This means that eight or nine out of every 10 em bryos transplanted to a woman's body are likely to die. The procreation docu ment — “Instruction on Respect for Human Life in its Origins and on the Digni ty of Procreation" — was released by the Vatican March 10. During a press con ference the same day, Car dinal Joseph Ratzinger, head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, said the high rate of embryo loss is “inevitable" given the current state of in vitro fertilization techni que. In vitro fertilization as practiced “involves abor tion and therefore is not ad missible,” he said. The embryo loss referred to by the cardinal is related to difficulties encountered in the process such as chromosome abnormal ities, damage caused by freezing embryos for storage, rejection by the woman’s body and other problems. Many embryos fail to implant or implant in the wrong place, such as in the fallopian tubes. Added to the deaths of im planted embryos is the greater number of in vitro- fertilized eggs which are never implanted because the process failed, ac cording to Jesuit Father Angelo Serra, director of the Human Genetics In stitute at Rome’s Sacred Heart University. Father Serra, who spoke at the March 10 press con ference, cited studies show ing a 96 percent overall failure rate of in vitro fer tilization attempts. In a 1984 study of 62 in vitro fertilization centers, he said, statistics showed 14,585 embryos were con ceived, of which 7,993 were implanted. More than 6,000 of the im- planted embryos died, while 1,369 successfully led to pregnancy. Of those pregnancies, only 600 resulted in live births — about 4 percent of the total laboratory-conceived em bryos and 10 percent of those implanted, Father Serra said. The study was presented at the Third World Con gress on In Vitro Fertiliza tion and Embryo Transfer held in Helsinki, Finland, in 1984. When frozen before use, 50-75 percent of the em bryos do not survive the freeze-thaw process, scien tists say. The destruction of so many embryos is of par ticular concern for the church in light of the new document’s declaration that the embryo is to be treated “as a person” from the moment of conception. But theologians who have supported the moral licitness of in vitro fertiliza tion have cited studies estimating even “in vivo” (in the body) fertilizations result in a failure rate of 15-50 percent. “Such significant loss raises the question whether each fertilized egg which falls into this category can reasonably be considered to be possessed of an immor tal human soul,” wrote British Jesuit theologian Father John Mahoney in his 1984 book “Bioethics and Belief.” Father Serra told Na tional Catholic News Ser vice March 12 that while embryo loss may be as high as 50 percent in nature, "we cannot create (artificial) conditions" in which so many “people" will be kill ed. He also noted that scien tists usually destroy damaged or unused em bryos developed in the laboratory rather than let ting them die on their own. While the church has never declared the exact moment when a body receives a soul, the pro creation document says scientific understanding of the genetic uniqueness of the embryo from the mo ment of conception sug gests “a personal presence at the moment of this first appearance of a human life.” BY DEBORAH McCARTY DAYTON, Ohio (NC) - In the aftermath of the Vatican document that rules out in vitro fertiliza tion and surrogate motherhood, infertile couples should not give up hope, an Englewood. Ohio, couple believes. After 10 years of trying to conceive, Fred and Marilyn Sinay, members of Pre cious Blood Parish in Dayton, are expecting a child Aug. 15. They underwent the tubal ovum transfer procedure, or TOT, which has been ap proved by Archbishop Daniel Pilarczyk of Cincin nati and the Pope John XX- III Medical-Moral Re search and Education Center, Braintree, Mass. The Vatican document, issued March 10 by the Con gregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, reiterated Catholic teaching that responsible procreation can occur only within mar riage. It rejects, among other things, in vitro (test tube) fertilization or use of masturbation to obtain semen. The Vatican document does not specifically men tion the tubal ovum transfer process, but the Sinays and their associate pastor, Precious Blood Father Larry Hemmelgarn, be lieve the method respects church teaching. According to Dr. David McLaughlin, a member of the medical team that in itiated the procedure at St. Elizabeth Medical Center, Dayton, in 1983, “the two main criteria that TOT meets are that fertilization occurs in vivo (in the body) and that the sperm is col lected through the marital act of intercourse in a per forated condom” assuring that the marital act is open to transmission of life. “As the sperm and egg are replaced (in the body) they’re separated by an air bubble so that conception does not occur outside the body,” McLaughlin ex plained. “Who can say for sure when conception oc curred," said Sinay, noting Information Sessions The content of the new Vatican document on pro creation and the theology that is reflected in it will be discussed in several forums next week for those who would like to be more fully informed. On Monday night March 23 a support group for couples dealing with infertility problems, Lost Parents, will hold a special meeting at 7:30 p.m. at Sacred Heart Church, 353 Peachtree St., Atlanta, to hear more about the document. Father Stephen Churchwell, who is on the staff of the Marriage Tri bunal for the archdiocese and who is versed in ques tions of medical ethics, will speak on the document. On Wednesday night March 25 at 7:30 p.m. Father Churchwell will also be speaking at Corpus Christi Church, 600 Mountain View Drive, Stone Mountain. Both meetings are open to all. that intercourse took place two hours before the pro cedure and again the next day. This is the second time Mrs. Sinay, 37, and her hus band, 41, have undergone the procedure and become pregnant. Her first preg nancy ended in miscar riage at 20 weeks in January 1986. St. Elizabeth Medical Center was the site last May of the first birth in the United States of a baby con ceived through the tubal ovum transfer process. The child, Nathan Charles Hoff mann, was born to Cathie and Chuck Hoffmann, a Protestant couple who had struggled with infertility problems for five years before learning of the pro gram at St. Elizabeth’s. The tubal ovum transfer procedure was discon tinued at St. Elizabeth Medical Center in June 1986 when McLaughlin left to join the staff of the In dianapolis Fertility Center of Humana Women’s Hospital. The Sinays made the 200-mile round trip to In dianapolis in November. “Three days after the surgery, I knew I was preg nant,” Mrs. Sinay said. “I just felt it.” The Sinays said they were reassured that the odds were “one in 50,000” that the genetic defect that caus ed her earlier miscarriage would reoccur. They ex pressed “cautious op timism” that a healthy baby wll be born this time, noting that an ultrasound test Feb. 18 showed a nor mal 14-week fetus. Sinay, director of day treatment at a local mental health center and owner of a photography business, videotaped the ultrasound. “We’ve watched this 100 times,” Mrs. Sinay said. The couple pointed out the videotaped images of the fetus’ ribs, spine and limbs. Married more than 11 years, the Sinays said they feel fortunate the tubal ovum trahsfer process was available. “We never had to make a decision that went against church teaching,” she said. But they object to the tone of the Vatican document, which calls on infertile couples to share “in a par ticular way in the Lord’s cross." “God helps those who help themselves,” Mrs. Sinay said. “The doctors got their ability and knowledge from some where.” Mrs. Sinay, a juvenile court secretary, sym pathized with couples who resort to other methods to conceive. “I can under stand practically every woman’s point of view. I understand that driving force to have children, no matter what it takes," she said. The couple rejected adop tion. however. “We could have adopted and saved a lot of money. But we don’t want to give up,” Mr. Sinay said. “The bottom line for us is that we want a child.” Moralists, Women Consulted By Vatican VATICAN CITY (NC) - The Vatican consulted about 60 moralists and theologians, more than 20 scientists, and mothers when preparing the recent document on procrea tion, Vatican officials said. But the Vatican would not disclose names of those con sulted because it would appear to place the document’s weight on the consulters’ authority rather than on the church’s magisterium, said press spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls. At a press conference. Archbishop Alberto Bovone, secretary of the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, said consultation for the document dated back to the summer of 1985. He said scientists consulted included geneticists, biologists, doctors, sexologists and psychiatrists. The archbishop said seven bishops' conferences were consulted directly, and publications by eight other con ferences were studied. One of the preparation sessions, he said, had the nature of a "real symposium." The 40-page document, “Instruction on Respect for Human Life in Its Origin and on the Dignity of Procreation," was issued by the doctrinal congregation. It was dated Feb. 22 and released by the Vatican March 10. One Vatican official said women from different countries were consulted on the document, some in their capacities as mothers and some in their scientific capacities. They at tended some of the sessions at the Vatican and were asked for moral and scientific advice, he said.
