Archbishop Gądecki wrote to Duda: In vitro is production and experimentation

“I kindly ask you to refuse to sign the Act of November 29, 2023 amending the Act on health care services financed from public funds and to submit it for reconsideration by the Sejm or refer it to the Constitutional Tribunal,” wrote Archbishop Stanisław Gądecki in a letter to President Andrzej Duda.

Production and experimentation

In the letter, Gądecki points out that the Catholic Church cannot support a solution that violates the idea of ​​protecting life. “Human life is a fundamental value and an inalienable good. Therefore, it demands absolute protection, regardless of the period and quality of a person’s life. Meanwhile, the in vitro method is experimenting on humans, their specific ‘production’, which is a ‘form of taking over human life’,” he wrote.

The Archbishop emphasizes that the church is aware of what a “severe trial” infertility is and emphasizes that state aid is therefore necessary. “It is necessary to create a national program for true infertility treatment. Modern medicine clearly shows that removing the medical or psychological causes of infertility gives a much greater chance of giving birth to a healthy child than artificially assisted reproduction procedures,” we read.

Despite his opinion that the in vitro method is “production” and “experimentation on humans”, Gądecki still managed to say that children conceived using this method deserve respect. “Each child conceived using the in vitro method is created in the ‘image and likeness’ of God and endowed with inherent human dignity. Each one should be accepted with love and respect, which they deserve just as much as naturally conceived children,” wrote the president of the Polish Episcopal Conference.