Description

Dr. Felix Podimattam is one of the best-known moral theologians in India & outside. Besides his full time job as a professor, he finds time to write books at an amazing rate. He has authored 136 books.
Besides his Masters degree in Political Science from Mysore, he holds a Licentiate in Theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome, & subsequently a Doctorate in Moral Theology from the Alphonsian Academy, Rome. His post-doctoral studies were pursued in Washington, DC, USA. At present he is professor of Moral Theology at St. Francis Theological College, Kottayam, Kerala, India.

CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER ONE
PRELIMINARY CONSIDERATIONS
1. Definition of Terms
New reproductive technologies
In-vitro fertilization
2. A Brief Historical Review
2.1. The Birth of Louise Brown
2.2. From the Warnock Committee to the 1990 Act
2.3. Ethics in the Public Realm
2.4. In-vitro Fertilization and Feminism
3. Infertility
3.1. Infertility in General
3.2. Male Infertility
3.3. Female Infertility
3.4. Fallopian Tubes
4. Historical Moments
5. The Stages of IVF .
5.1. Preliminaries
5.2. The Production of Eggs.
5.3. The Extraction of Eggs
5.4. The Fertilization of Eggs
5.5.TheReplacementof the Embryo
5.6. Afterwards
6. Risks and Successes
6.1. Risks to the Mother
6.2. Risks and the IVF Child
6.3. Experimentation and Failure Rates
7. Feminist Critiques of the NRTs and of IVF..
8. Some IVF Participants
8.1. The Counselor
8.2. The Third Party in Consent
8.2.1. Women and In formed Consent
8.2.2. Women and Male Infertilitv
8.2.3. The Female Partner of the Male Donor
8.2.4. Women as Egg Donors
8.2.5. The Consultant and the Disposition of Embryos
8.2.6. The Growing Child
8.2.7. The Sperm Donor
9. IVF and Embryo Research
9.1. The IVF Contexts for Research
9.2. Views on the Status of the Embryo
9.3. The Nature of the Arguments
9.4. The Arguments against Research
9.5. The Arguments for Research
9.6. Research in the 1990 Act
10. Human Fertilization and Embryology: Act and Authority
10.1. The Theory and Practice of HFEA
10.2. HFEA’s Medical Ethics
10.3. Critique of HFEA’s Medical Ethics
11. The Wider Society
11.1. From Individual to Social Ethics
11.2. Relations between Religion and Technology
11.3. Technology and Political Power
11.4. Commodification and Commercialization
CHAPTERTWO
PSYCHOLOGICAL, LEGAL,
AND PASTORAL ASPECTS OF IVF
1. Psychological Aspects of IVF
2. Legal Aspects of IVF
3. Pastoral Aspects o f I VF
CHAPTER THREE
MORAL ASPECTS OF IN-VITRO FERTILIZATION
1. Morality of Artificial Insemination
1.1. Morality of AIH
1.1.1.OfficialTeachingof theChurch
1.1.2. Moral Theological Discussion on AIH
1.2. Morality of AID
1.2.1. OfficialTeachingof theChurch
1.2.2. Moral Theological Discussion on AID
2. IVF and Natural Law
3. IVF and the Bible
4. IVF and the Magisterium.
5. A Critical Evaluation of theTeachingof the Magisterium
5.1. Difficulty of Accepting the Verdict of the Magisterium
5.2. Perception of Moral Values is a Sort of Human Intuition
5.3. No Radical Difference between Christians and Non-Christians
5.4. Christian Morality Presupposes Natural Morality
5.5. Person as Absolute Moral Norm
5.6. Love As Absolute Moral Norm
5.7. Other Absolute Moral Norms
5.8. Knowledge Through Connaturality
5.9. Our Moral Perception is Proportionate to Our Moral Life
5.10. Individual Morality
5.11. Democratic Education
5.12. The Value of Vatican Slamming of
Nobel Win for Robert Edwards
6. Moral Status of theConceptus
CONCLUSION
BIBLIOGRAPHY
ENDNOTES
INDEX