Fashioning the wanted child

...To limit procreation to the act of intercourse has its advantages: it is clear and admits of no exceptions...

...Instinctively, or on advice, Allen thus reduces the level of annoyingly narcissistic self-concern -- all the more tedious since his cinematic self is ~o loquaciously convinced of inadequacy -that had become a fetish in earlier films...

...Human fertilization in vitro (IVF) can be employed to create embryos using a variety of combinations...

...She would be courageous in willingly assuming the responsibility of parenthood unaided by a spouse...

...The gargantuan strides taken by the technology of reproduction present us with many ethical issues...

...But if the husband is dead this greatly complicates the problem for those who are open to AIH as remedy for infertility...

...What holds the material together...

...But these may be unconvincing given the considerable emotional suffering of infertile married persons...

...They contend that the unity of two in one flesh is intensely personal, meaningful, and symbolically significant, and, therefore, is the sole means designed by God for the transmission of human life...

...For all of Allen's "soui-searching," incidentally, what his hypochondriac finally achieves is no more than deliguru: "the heart," he pompously proclaims, "is a very resilient muscle...

...What is a frozen embryo, and what claims does this form of human life make upon those from whom it developed and upon society at large...

...The domestic hearth will suffer if it is sullied by the spirit of the experimental laboratory...

...No fornication...

...Loyola University), Human Fertilization in Vitro: A Catholic Moral Perspective (University Press of America) and, most recently, AIDS: A Catholic Call for Compassion (Sheed and Ward...

...For women who are unable or unwilling to become pregnant, laboratory fertilization makes it possible to arrange for surrogates to carry their embryos...

...But what should happen to a frozen embryo if the female genetic parent dies, or ages beyond the child-bearing years, or decides against motherhood...

...Allen contributes some Commonweal: 150...

...Reproductive technology has not made the institution of the family obsolete...

...imagination of someone who experiences New York with the anesthesia fortune makes possible...

...When technology serves human needs it is ennobling...

...Allen's religious quest brings him to dry-as-dust monsignors and stores selling kitschy crucifixion art...

...Here we are treated to spotlessly photogenic scenes of New York streets and institutions -- as though the city Were really New Amsterdam and no one appreciates it more than Woody Allen...

...In deciding the case, the French court said that sperm is "a human secretion that contains the seed of life and is destined to create a human being...

...The primary reason is that the child so-conceived would not be on the same terms with the biological mother and her spouse, the person most people would consider to be the father...

...The fact that the child conceived through AIH is the biological offspring of both its parents is a crucial reason for the acceptability of AIH...

...Third, Allen's incestuous concern with Manhattan (although enjoying good film precedents in the 1930s' comedies that he reveres) aggravates by its parochialism and selectivity...

...No technological reproduction...

...The shelf life of a frozen embryo is not precisely known...

...Those who argue that any form of artificial intervention is immoral do so because they reason that human life should only be conceived through the joining of man and woman which occurs in sexual intercourse...

...In view of the case of Corinne Parpalaix, it is interesting to speculate on the guidance Catholic moral teaching offers to individuals and society regarding the ethical aspects of artificial insemination, and morally responsible conduct in unusual cases such as this one...

...Such positive aspects would include the mature and searching dialogue in which spouses might engage before coming to the AID decision, and their serious commitment to make parenthood work...

...The court concurred with the widow's lawyer who argued: "A deceased man has the right to breathe life into the womb of his wife and prove that love is stronger than death...

...I ETHICS & REPRODUCTIVE TECHNOLOGY Fashioning the wanted child I I EILEEN P. FLYNN I N TIMES past, the Catholic lay person asked a complex question of ethical import and the trained moral theologian gave a precise answer without blinking an eye...

...One to four embryos are routinely transferred to the patient...

...And the overwhelming majority of these births are unplanned...

...Is it in the best interests of children to bring 14 March 1986:149them into being to lessen a mother's grief, be a reminder of a dead spouse, or bring a dream to fulfillment...

...In addition, some would argue that intercourse between persons in an invalid marriage should not automatically be considered adulterous...

...On the other hand, it is quite possible, given the extraordinary limits of his Manhattanite parochialism, Allen doesn't know that religious thinking even exists...

...If an embryo is located in the straining process, it is placed within the uterus of the sperm donor's wife...

...But it seems that this is the role moral theology should be playing, given the complexity of the issues and the needs of moral decision-makers...

...all the men, moreover, are losers or villains except for Allen's character...

...He plays a hypochondriacal television producer who provides comic relief from a sororal soap opera featuring Mia Farrow as Hannah, with Barbara Hershey and Dianne Wiest as 9 9 \ her sisters in -- where else...

...To date, two babies have been born following lavage therapy...

...An obstacle was put in her way when the French sperm bank, Cecos, expressed reluctance to honor her request Commonweal: 148because her husband was deceased...

...However, the church teaches not only through official channels of the magisterium, but is also depentient on the analytical reflection of moral theologians who evaluate the morality of new techniques, seeking to determine whether or not these procedures are consistent with human dignity...

...However, techniques through which biological offspring come to be considered as some kind of impersonal product which can be assembled from components should be rejected...

...Compassionate responses to infertility have included adopting children and encouraging a mature acceptance of physical limitation...

...The story of the three sisters illustrates Allen's growing capacity to sympathize with women and present them in a genuine manner...

...They admit that the manner in which conception occurs in AIH is less desirable than the interpersonal experience of coitus, but they do not think that the negative aspects of the interference are so substantial as to constitute a reason to prohibit the technique...

...Having continued as amicable friends, Mia even sets him up with her ditzy, (failed) actress sister, Dianne Wiest, whose narrow eyes always convey benign bewilderment...

...If a director so glorified Southern California or Texas, imagine the howls from the myopic New York critics who so glorify Allen's work...

...No adultery...

...These possible problems notwithstanding, Louis Janssens has said that the positive aspects of the experience of choosing AID may supersede the lack of complete biological parenthood...

...Artificial insemination can be achieved using either the sperm of an inseminated woman's husband (AIH) or the sperm of an anonymous donor (AID...

...The plot of Hannah and Her Sisters thus simply literalizes the claustrophobic tone of all Woody Allen films...

...More seriously, it's no accident that Allen here touches on a variety of incest in tracing the sisters' intertangled sex lives, which Allen and other men share on a kind of rotating basis...

...In Hannah and Her Sisters, he succeeds in displacing the focus of his filmmaking from his own character to another, just as he did last year in the fine The Purple Rose of Cairo...

...D IFFERENCES of opinion about artificial insemination are based upon different understandings of the proper manner of procreating...

...And the husband, presumed to be the child's father, might have difficulty accepting a fatherly role vis-A-vis a child he did not really father...

...But perhaps it is in Catholic teaching on questions of technological reproduction that the subtle and difficult issues which are disputed in sexual morality stand out most starkly...

...Conservative theologians, such as William E. May, follow the magisterium and argue against ever employing AIH or AID...

...Grave problems of self-identity could result for the child if the parents concealed the circumstances of conception or if the parents revealed these facts...

...Many embryos may result from laboratory insemination...

...I II I! I II I [ Screen I II II NEW AMSTERDAM 'HANNAH & HER SISTERS' W OODY ALLEN the director has found a partial solution to the problem of Woody Allen the character...

...No birth control...

...The court's deliberations involved wrestling with an unprecedented legal dispute...

...The miracle is that from this confusing (and often self, indulgent) material, Allen creates a believable, gentle tale about family life that actually celebrates (at last) commitment...

...The matter was resolved on August 1, 1984 when a Paris court ruled that Mrs...

...On the other hand, how prudent would it be to defy the common wisdom by intentionally conceiving a child who will not begin life within the traditional family unit...

...On the contrary, contemporary possibilities are forcing this generation to come to a more reverent understanding of the emotional, biological, and spiritual relationships which constitute the family and bind members to one another...

...The particulars of this case show how difficult contemporary reproductive questions can be...

...According to a Reuters' news release dated January I 1, 1985, Corinne Parpalaix was inseminated with all available test tubes of her deceased husband's sperm on November 28, 1984, but the insemination did not result in a pregnancy...

...Reaction to AID is much more reserved than reaction to AIH...

...Surplus embryos can be thawed and transferred at later dates...

...The most meaningful human experiences are central to this issue: love, parenthood, life, and death...

...However, in cases of widows desiring insemination with their dead husband's sperm, much energy and commitment would be invested in order to try to conceive children who would never know their fathers...

...A complex moral case recently came to the attention or the media...

...Because of hormone therapy, many women in IVF programs produce several ova...

...Cases such as that of Corinne Parpalaix are still unusual, but such difficult cases will probably not be solved by the application of abstract moral strictures which often are not convincing to ordinary people...

...On the one hand, it is inspirational that a widow might want to reincarnate her spouse's love by conceiving "his" child...

...Donor sperm and a donor ovum could form an embryo which could be transferred to the uterus of any woman...

...Nevertheless, Hannah is worthwhile, often charming, and even moving...

...Moralists who favor AIH are impressed by the maturity and generosity of those spouses who place such a high value on their relationship and vocation to parenthood that they are willing to attempt conception through AIH...

...Ultimately, the moral response to these questions involves discerning in what wisdom consists...

...Or maybe a lie...

...A surrogate is inseminated with donor sperm and, within a week of her insemination, her uterus is flushed...

...I I who are unwilling to reproduce using their own ova, IVF now opens the possibility of creating embryos with donor ova and (husband's) sperm which the bearer of the disease can personally carry to term...

...Parpalaix, and others to whom technology holds the promise to solve their reproductive dilemmas, to understand the myriad repercussions of what pregnancy and parenting under such circumstances would entail...

...First, a simple problem concerns structure: Allen does not always manage to connect his character's story with the three sisters', and the plot often seems less juncture than fracture...

...Because the sperm which Mr...

...However, some moralists are not willing to say that an incident of premarital intercoase involving engaged persons is necessarily a grave offense and objectively wrong...

...A dead father's hope, a widow's desires, the best interests of a child who has not yet been conceived...

...I am by nature skeptical at coronations, so let me list the defects of the film not often mentioned in the praise that it is currently receiving...

...If moral theology responds to the reproductive technology of the 1980s by advocating discernment and caution, and by offering guidelines rather than prefabricated solutions or prohibitions, responsibility for profound ethical decisions will rest with very vulnerable people...

...On a par with Allen's provincialism is his caricature of Catholicism, rooted in some warmed-over nonsense from the fifties dredged up on screen when his hypochondriacal character contemplates conversion...

...In addition, the mother might fantasize about the identity of an anonymous donor, to the detriment of her relationship with her husband...

...In spite of the fact that the case of Corinne Parpalaix is sadly closed, it is reasonable to ask what guidance Catholic moral theology might offer to other women who find themselves in similar circumstances...

...Over thirty years ago Pope Plus XII condemned both AIH and AID...

...extras are frozen...

...However, moral opposition to AID is not unanimous, and a few theologians, such as Louis Janssens and Charles Curran, would approve AID in certain cases...

...These questions were open and shut...

...When the husband is alive and well, there is no question that most Catholic moralists endorse A1H, even though the magisterial-conservative coalition is on record against the technique...

...With a rare trace of garbage, blight, or humidity, Hannah and Her Sisters resembles an "I Love New York (City)" travel poster...

...Solomon knew that a loving mother would sooner give up her child than see her child deprived of life...

...Some backbone provided by rel~ated scenes at Thanksgiving dinners, where Hannah's parents (the late Lloyd Nolan, and Maureen O'Sullivan, Mia Farrow's actual mother) provide an anchor, at least for common concern, among the daughters...

...Such self-serving self-referentiality is not the hallmark of a comprehensive imagination...

...the court did not address the moral aspects of employing artificial insemination after the sperm donor-spouse had died...

...Allen then sophomorically lampoons various philosophers on the "meaning of life," finally accepting Pascal's wager, but never mentioning it by name, as if he can't give religion any credit...

...Reflex certitude was especially likely when matters of sexual morality or procreative ethics were on the agenda...

...Her books include My Country Right or Wrong...

...The simplest response to the reproductive revolution is to say that nature's way is the only ethical way to reproduce...

...It is noteworthy that everyone in Hannah is either an actor, artist, or writer (except one accountant, a heavy...

...When technology enables married persons to conceive and bear their own children it seems to be working in concert with the human values ethics seeks to explicate and protect...

...Or the absence of...

...The majority of contemporary moral theologians writing today, however, reason that homologous insemination may be a legitimate means to biological parenthood for married spouses who are troubled by infertility...

...Parpalaix had a right to claim the sperm...

...The case involved Corinne Parpalaix who requested her dead husband's sperm so that she could try to become pregnant through artificial insemination...

...Today, the majority of moralists, the so-called revisionists -- including Richard McCormick, Bernard H/iring, and Philip Keane -- reason that AIH is ethically acceptable, but do not approve AID...

...They reject the interpretation of natural law in which a stipulation is deduced from biological facticity or from the sacramental nature of marriage which proclaims that children should be conceived solely within the conjugal embrace...

...A large percentage of children are born to unwed mothers, but for many reasons society considers these births ill-advised and tragic...

...The freezing of sperm which occurred more than a generation ago made it possible for any woman to choose to conceive with donor sperm...

...Parpalaix deposited was destined to be used for homologous artificial insemination, the court could identify no overriding reason to deny making the frozen ejaculate available to his widow...

...Of course, today as in the past, fornication and adultery are evaluated as morally wrong...

...Society-at-large, and ethics in particular, should attempt to enable widows like Mrs...

...Today, the lavage method takes artificial insemination by donor (AID) a step further...

...The plot is a complicated trio of boymeetsgirl: Mia's (Hannah's) husband (unevenly played by Michael Caine) falls in love with Barbara Hershey, who lives with Max yon Sydow (also heavy as a pedantic avant-garde artist...

...Allen, meanwhile, had been married to Mia, but was unable to have children -- a fact handled with some gross comedy, but which had a serious impact on their eventual divorce...

...modern Manhattan...

...Allen is present in Hannah (he was absent in Purple Rose) but as only half of the story...

...In respect to artificial contraception, Pope John Paul II and conservative moralists continue to reiterate the traditional teaching, while dissent from Humanae Vitae goes on unabated...

...For women with genetic diseases, I I I ?. FL~N, an assistant professor of theology at Saint Peter's College, Jersey City, has written for Theology Today, The Priest, Service, NCR, and other journals...