Birth Control

12 April 2016

Dear Bahá’í Friend,

The Universal House of Justice has received your email letter of 26 January 2016 requesting guidance concerning the desire of you and your husband to limit the size of your family given that, in light of your age and health, you do not feel you could complete another pregnancy. The conscientious manner in which you have approached the matter is appreciated. We have been asked to reply as follows.

There is no direct or explicit guidance in the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh or ‘Abdu’l-Bahá on the subject of birth control; this matter has been left for the decision of the House of Justice. In response to questions asked by Bahá’ís on previous occasions, the House of Justice has explained that married couples can decide to use birth control methods to delay the timing of a first pregnancy, to control the spacing between pregnancies, or to limit the size of their family.

Some birth control methods act to prevent fertilization, some act after fertilization has occurred to prevent implantation or to abort the fertilized ovum, while in the case of others there is a difference of opinion as to how they work. There is no objection to contraceptives which prevent the occurrence of fertilization. However, it would be improper for a Bahá’í to use a method the effect of which would be to terminate a pregnancy even at its earliest stage, since the Teachings state that the soul comes into being at conception.

In Vitro Fertilization—Additional Considerations

27 March 2016

Dear Bahá’í Friend,

The Universal House of Justice has received your email letter of 12 March 2016 seeking guidance pertaining to the disposition of unused fertilized eggs following in vitro fertilization. Also received was your email letter of 11 March 2016 addressed to your National Spiritual Assembly and forwarded by it to the Bahá’í World Centre on 14 March 2016. Your desire to firmly adhere to the teachings of the Faith in this regard is warmly acknowledged. We have been asked to convey the following in reply.

Statements made by the beloved Guardian establish the principle that, for Bahá’ís, the process of reproduction pertains to a husband and wife. In this light, the House of Justice has determined that, in relation to procedures for assisted reproduction, only the sperm of the husband and the egg cell of the wife should be used, and it would not be acceptable for the friends to use donated sperm or eggs from another party or to donate them to others. This also applies to the donation or receipt of a fertilized egg.

Furthermore, the House of Justice has concluded that the spiritual and social implications of the use of a surrogate mother to provide for the gestation of an embryo, even when the embryo results from the fertilization of the wife’s egg cell by the husband’s sperm, are too far-reaching for such a procedure to be acceptable for Bahá’ís. Even if the concept of adoption of a fertilized egg was considered to be distinct from its donation, its transfer from a couple and implantation in the womb of another mother is very closely related to surrogacy and raises other complex issues.