Is it a mortal sin to be a surrogate?

Is it the Catholic Church's stance that for a woman to carry a child for another couple is a grave sin? Donating eggs and sperm is out of the question of course, but what about surrogate mothers?Is it a mortal sin to be a surrogate?
There are two type of surrogacy:

+ Traditional: The surrogate mother is artificially inseminated with the sperm of the intended father or sperm from a donor when the sperm count is low. In either case the surrogate鈥檚 own egg will be used. Genetically the surrogate becomes the mother of the resulting child.

+ Gestational: The surrogate mother has no genetic ties to the offspring. Eggs and sperm are extracted from the donors and in vitro fertilized and implanted into uterus of the surrogate.



+ Artificial Insemination +



The Catholic Church does not approve of artificial insemination.



The U.S. bishops address this question in the fourth edition of the USCCB text Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services:



Directive 38: When the marital act of sexual intercourse is not able to attain its procreative purpose, assistance that does not separate the unitive and procreative ends of the act, and does not substitute for the marital act itself, may be used to help married couples conceive.



Directive 41: Homologous artificial fertilization (that is, any technique used to achieve conception using the gametes of the two spouses joined in marriage) is prohibited when it separates procreation from the marital act in its unitive significance (e.g., any technique used to achieve extra-corporeal conception).



For the complete document, see: http://www.usccb.org/bishops/directives.鈥?/a>



+ In Vitro Fertilization +



In most in vitro fertilizations, more than one egg is fertilized. Several embryos are then placed into the mother's womb. The remaining embryos are either destroyed or frozen. Destroying human embryos is abortion and freezing them with an unknown future hope of ever being born is not respecting the dignity of human life.



Later if and when the embryos begin to grow in the mother, all but one or two are usually aborted, again killing sacred human life.



And I have not even began discussing the harm to human dignity and our belief that God wants life to be the result of an act of love by those committed to loving each other.



For more information, see: http://www.usccb.org/prolife/programs/rl鈥?/a>

or the Catechism of the Catholic Church, section 2270 and following: http://www.usccb.org/catechism/text/pt3s鈥?/a>

And:

http://www.catholic.net/index.php?id=157鈥?/a>

http://www.surrogacy.com/religion/cathol鈥?/a>

http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/uni鈥?/a>



With love in Christ.
Your question is phrased as a request for clarification of Catholic theology. For a Catholic, a willful violation of one of the commandments (representing a willful violation of the covenant between god and "man") would constitute a mortal (as opposed to a venial) sin.



In this case the most likely violation would be the prohibition against adultery. In biblical times, this was narrowly interpreted as a married woman having sex with someone other than their husband. So, if the surrogate is a married Catholic then it is a mortal sin.



If you wanted a more modern and definitive answer, there may be material in the Vatican's treatise on bioethics that could offer further clarification.



Oh, and please, if this is important to you, don't take my word as any sort of final authority. Since this is on Yahoo, I am assuming that this is a casual religious discussion. I'm a Buddhist that has studied the history of the Christian church and Catholic theology, not a practicing Catholic, and certainly not a member of the Catholic clergy.



Good luck!Is it a mortal sin to be a surrogate?
God decides who has a child. To do anything else is to play God. So yes, I think it is a sin to carry a child that is not yours. I believe it is also a sin to ask or even worse, pay someone to do it for you.

A baby is a gift from God. He gives different gifts to people. He may have kept some barren so they would take in the homeless and the orphans. If they can get a surrogate Mother, then they will not adopt. So many children need familes. Why not let the barren women raise the children of those who have died. Sure everyone wants a child to be their own but to make it happen with science is just wrong. It is playing God as surely as aborting a baby that God has begun in a woman's womb.
I don't see why not- If a woman is willing to carry a child for someone who desperately wants one, then she is a better person than I...



@DreamDress- Two quick points, one, what is wrong with wanting to have a child of your own flesh and blood? And two, do you have any idea how difficuilt it is to adopt a child, it takes money, time, years of waiting and dissappointment..?
Another case of a 2000 year old book forbidding good things due to the fact that modern science simply didn't exist when man wrote the bible.



Sperm and egg donation is a kind thing that can help a lot of nice people who may have infertile partners or want to have a child on their own.

Being a surrogate is even kinder, it is a big burden that one undertakes to help people.



How awful to condemn someone for an act of kindness.
Yes, the church believes surrogates are selfish, money-grubbing women who victimize children.



But then they also believe in hundred-year-old women getting pregnant, and talking animals and stuff like that.
I wouldn't think it is.



And DreamDress, what if the surrogate was god's way of giving a couple the gift of a child? who are you to deny them a gift from god?
I think as long as the mother doesn't actually sleep with the father, then it's okay.
i don't see whats wrong with it.
It is a sin.