choose life

[swingchickie]

the vatican wanted terry schiavo back on life support. the pope himself wants to stay on life support (ganked from swankyfunk *waves hi*). yet if a couple wants to create life artificially, it's a big fat NO.

grrr.

forgive me if i've ranted about this before, it's a big personal issue for me... i just hate when institutions (religion, government, etc.) pick and choose within an issue, instead of looking at the overreaching, greater good and being on one side or the other of the entire issue. you see, the vatican can talk about the sanctity of life... and they can denounce abortion because it cuts a life short, and then can talk about the importance of life support for the pope and terry schiavo... but when a girlfriend of mine and her husband wanted to have a baby years ago, and could only create life through artificial insemination, the catholic church was so opposed to it that it refused to marry them.

yup. my friend and her now-husband are a wonderful couple... very much in love, and they VERY much wanted a baby together, as soon as possible after they were married. but early in their engagement, he was diagnosed with testicular cancer, and had to basically have everything removed to cure it. so before the surgery, the two of them went to a sperm bank and made several deposits, so that once they were married they could still have a child together. as the wedding date got closer and they went through their pre-marital counseling within the church, they were asked the standard catholic question of whether they would welcome children into their lives. excited, they said yes, and told just how far they had gone to ensure that they had a loving home full of children. but at that news, everything changed... and they were denied the chance to marry in the catholic church... because that was an unnatural way of conception. my friend was devastated, especially considering that she was such a devout catholic... went to church every sunday, and was a parishoner at the same church from the moment she was born until they pulled the proverbial rug out from under her.

so, yeah, i get pretty testy when i hear something like this. if life is sooo important to the church that you should sustain it artificially, then i don't see why they shouldn't be jumping for joy at a couple who wants to start it artificially as well. reason #7,396 why i'm not a practicing catholic anymore.

Comments

[naughtyboy.livejournal.com]

That sounds more like a fasciest preist than a church policy. I also have a friend with testicular cancer who made donations at the sperm bank (him only not her) so they could have a family when the time was right. They told their preist what was going on and he was in full support. They are now married.