Catholic Bishops Of Nigeria Warn Against IVF

The Catholic Bishops, nether the auspices of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria (CBCN), person urged Catholics and the wider Nigerian assemblage to workout caution regarding the rising prevalence of successful vitro Fertilisation (IVF), labelling the signifier arsenic incompatible with the Church’s motivation teachings.

President of CBCN and Archbishop of Owerri, Most Rev. Lucius Ugorji, who gave the informing during the opening league of the 2025 Second Plenary successful Akwa Ibom State, condemned IVF arsenic “gravely immoral” and highlighted its implications for quality dignity and the sanctity of marriage.

“IVF separates the unitive and procreative aspects of the marital act, which the Church considers sinful. Additionally, it leads to the instauration of aggregate embryos, galore of which are either discarded, frozen, oregon utilized for research. Each embryo is simply a quality beingness with inherent dignity and a close to exist,” helium said.

The bishops expressed concerns implicit the expanding fig of fertility clinics successful Nigeria, peculiarly those operated by unqualified individuals, informing that specified clinics exposure unsuspecting couples to fiscal exploitation, aesculapian risks, and adjacent imperishable infertility.

Archbishop Ugorji besides highlighted different troubling trend: young women, particularly assemblage students, who merchantability their eggs to clinics for tiny fiscal incentives.

“These women often bash truthful without being afloat alert of the wellness consequences oregon the motivation value of their actions,” helium said.

The bishops thereby called connected the authorities to instrumentality urgent enactment to modulate the fertility industry.

However, Archbishop Ugorji emphasised that adjacent with regulation, IVF remains unacceptable for Catholics.

“The Church teaches that quality beingness is ineffable from conception. We cannot condone practices that commodify quality embryos oregon dainty them arsenic disposable objects,” helium said.

Instead, the bishops promote Catholic couples facing infertility to research morally acceptable options similar earthy procreative technologies and adoption, and to support their religion successful God’s providence.

“Even successful the look of childlessness, Christian couples are called to witnesser to the emotion and faithfulness of God,” Ugorji said.

The bishops reaffirmed their committedness to defending the sanctity of quality beingness astatine each stage, reminding the faithful that existent anticipation and healing tin lone travel from God, not from procedures that compromise quality dignity.