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Culture War Roundup for the week of June 1, 2026

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For those who are abundantly pro-life I'm curious how they feel about screening semen or eggs for potential down syndrome or other major issues. Sure it's prior to fertilization but it's still life on some level

For Catholics, at least, I don't think the issue would be with killing the sperm or unfertilized egg (not people or even potential people). But Catholicism would not be down with the impulse to treat another person as a consumer good whose worthiness for existence depends on someone else's private standards or tastes.

How are they not potential people? What about with IVF where multiple viable eggs are fertilized and some are potentially discarded since there's no reasonable pathway to incubating them all

I think pro-life people are typically opposed to IVF exactly because of the reason you point out.

Are they against frequent miscarriagers getting pregnant? Not that I really expect a hard-and-fast answer and pulling numbers out of my ass but if if Couple A really wants a child and they've got alternatives of IVF (10 eggs fertilized, 1 healthy child delivered) and 10 years of trying with a very high miscarriage rate (20 eggs fertilized, none making it to term) which is more moral?

They say that the miscarriages are God's responsibility, whereas the IVF fetuses are the parents' and doctors' responsibility, which is different. It isn't necessarily wrong for God to allow smallpox, but if you go and re-release it, you will be doing wrong.