A Prolegomenon to Catholic Moral Teaching on Sperm Motility Treatment

<span class="paragraphSection"><div class="boxTitle">Abstract</div>Sperm motility treatment for male infertility has, as yet, drawn no specific official Catholic teaching. Moral theologians rely on previous magisterial documents like Donum Vitae and Dignitatis Personae to state what might be morally permissible or impermissible. Some reject the treatment, holding that it involves masturbation and separates the unitive and procreative ends of marriage. Experience shows that these views are truncated, devoid of nuanced applicability in concrete situations which are usually variegated. A Catholic norm based on these would be vague and pastorally deficient. Rather, a norm that takes into consideration the concrete experience of infertile couples, the social stigma of infertility, a holistic view of conjugal love, and the therapeutic value of sperm motility treatment is needed. In this essay, I present salient Catholic statements on reproductive technology and argue that sperm motility treatment is morally acceptable and imports a greater marital good.1¹</span>

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