Rockford Diocese - Respect Life Office - Natural Family Planning

Infertility Struggles

Hannah's Hope

support group for couples bearing the cross of infertility

Hannah's Hope is just getting started!

For information on UPCOMING MEETINGS, please contact our office at 815.399.4300 or lchristianson@rockforddiocese.org

A friend of mine who struggled with infertility and then was able to conceive through morally acceptable medical assistance shared with me her frustration over some of her son's Baptism cards. The cards which said something along the lines of 'God knew that you would make great parents and blessed you with a child' seemed to express that God decides who is worthy of being parents and who is not. This is surely not how God responds to any couple's pain of infertility. Know that God is not only beside you throughout your suffering but suffers with you. Prayers are with your family.

Couples are generally defined as infertile if, after a year of regular sexual intercourse, they have not conceived a child. Through your questioning of "why us?" you may also wonder if anything proactive can be done about it. In the case of women's infertility, the answer is "yes." Sometimes infertility can be remedied through changing little things in your daily routine. Read Marilyn Shannon's book, Fertility, Cycles & Nutrition, for more information on reducing light while you sleep, supplementing your diet with Vitamin B6, decreasing your extremely intensive exercise routine, and many other things.

Natural Family Planning can help you assess the cause of your infertility. Through charting your cycle and discussing it with a certified instructor, you can learn more about what is at the root of the problem. Hormone tests can also help in this process.

In Rockford, a FertilityCare Center at OSF Saint Anthony is available for one-on-one appointments. Contact Mary O'Grady, RN at:

OSF Saint Anthony FertilityCare Center
5666 E. State St. • Rockford, IL 61108
(815) 227-2870
Mary.E.O'Grady@osfhealthcare.org

http://www.osfsaintanthony.org/services/womens-center/fertility-care.html

How do we know what moral options we have?

There are lots of options presented to couples struggling with infertility, but many of them are immoral choices. Anything that assists the marital embrace in achieving its twofold purpose (unity and procreation) is morally acceptable. So anything that helps the man or woman identify what is causing their infertility and working to treat this health problem is moral if it is helping the couple, in their marital embrace (their reciprocal giving of each other, uniting them together) conceive a child.

Anything that violates either purpose or attempts to separate them is immoral. Donum Vitae, the Instruction on Respect for Human Life from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (the Vatican), explains that:

The fidelity of the spouses in the unity of marriage involves reciprocal respect of their right to become a father and a mother only through each other. The child has the right to be conceived, carried in the womb, brought into the world and brought up within marriage: it is through the secure and recognized relationship to his own parents that the child can discover his own identity and achieve his own proper human development. (Donum Vitae, Part II)

Anything which involves a third party in the procreative act is thereby immoral. This includes sperm donation, ovum (egg) donation, and surrogate motherhood. Anything that involves conception outside the woman's body is also immoral.

For more information, click here.

Resources

Prayer Aids

OSF St. Anthony FertilityCare Center in Rockford

Hannah's Tears Catholic Infertility Support

Fertility, Cycles, and Nutrition

"Infertility and IVF: A Teachable Moment" from Bishop Coakley of the Diocese of Salina, Kansas

A blog from a local couple who has struggled from infertility

An article on Celiac Disease's connection with infertility

"Reproductive Technology (Evaluation and Treatment of Infertility): Guidelines for Catholic Couples" from the USCCB

"Infertility: A Silent Epidemic and Growing Pro-life Concern" from Catholic Exchange

Resources from the USCCB

"Babies Deserve Better: What You Need to Know If You're Struggling with Infertility"

"The Gift of Infertility": Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4

Fertility Treatment is Hugely Successful but Largely Ignored by Medicine"

Podcast (and transcript) of Dr Marie Meaney, "Embracing the Cross of Infertility"

"Embracing the Cross of Infertility: An Interview with Marie & Joseph Meaney"

"IVF Violates Human Dignity"

Anovulation document from the National Institutes of Health

"Facing Infertility: A Journey of Faith, Hope, and Love" from Catholic New World